seeks support for plan
that will raise taxes
Board asks voters to see
how aid crunch hits home
Freehold Borough
seeks support for plan
that will raise taxes
By clare marie celano
Staff Writer
Freehold Borough Board of Education President Lynne Coulson calls the proposed 2003-04 school year budget "an incredibly fiscally responsible budget and one that will assure that students get what they need even if board members won’t get exactly what they want."
A 9-cent hike in the K-8 school tax rate for the 2003-04 year will be what borough residents will see reflected in their tax bills if the board’s proposed $13.4 million budget for the coming school year is approved in the April 15 election.
Coulson said she is hoping the budget gets voter approval on April 15 and that residents will take the time to look at the numbers.
"This is not a frivolous budget. There are things we are doing without, but we will provide the education that children in the borough need," Coulson said. "This is very frustrating. The school budget is the only budget in government that is voted on. The last five or six years, we have kept taxes down. We’ve consistently taken money out of our surplus in order to save taxpayers money."
On March 24, the board adopted a 2003-04 budget that checks in at $13,405,241. That figure includes federal aid, according to Anthony Tonzini, the school district’s business administrator. The 2002-03 budget called for spending of $13,352,179.
Residents will vote on the 2003-04 current expenses of $11.6 million, which is up from the 2002-03 figure of $11.2 million. The local tax levy to support the spending plan will rise $69,057, from $5,187,151 in 2002-03 to $5,256,208 in 2003-04.
The proposed budget indicates that the K-8 school tax rate will rise from $1.08 to $1.17 per $100 of assessed valuation. This means the owner of a home assessed at $100,000 will pay $1,170 in K-8 school taxes next year, up from $1,080 this year. The owner of a home assessed at $150,000 will pay $1,755, up from $1,620, while the owner of a home assessed at $200,000 will pay $2,340, up from $2,160.
In related news, Tonzini told board members and residents the district could be in for a severe financial jolt in June. He said state aid is being reduced everywhere and reported that the district stands a good chance of losing the June payment due from the state totaling $297,835.
"We only have $420,000 in our surplus fund for this year," Tonzini said, noting that the anticipated loss of state aid could cause a serious cash flow problem for the district.
The business administrator said that although he has not received confirmation of this loss of aid, he has been informed by the New Jersey Association of School Business Officials "to be prepared not to receive it."
Tonzini briefly reviewed the status of state aid over the last few years, stating that the district’s funds from the state once topped out at about 50 percent and are now hovering at about 45 percent.
Last year, according to Tonzini, the district received a $120,000 increase in state funding. The year before that the increase was $600,000 and the year before that the increase came in at $592,000. This current year’s increase of $90,000 still puts the district $400,000 below what it was previously receiving rather regularly, he said.
"We used to have an average of between an 11 and 12 percent per year increase. Now that has dropped to between 1.5 and 2 percent. It’s unrealistic to expect that the taxpayers of the town can support this budget being that the state is taking away state aid at an alarming rate," Tonzini added. "They’ve taken over $1 million over the last two years away from us. This is especially hard on a town like ours with no real increase in ratables. Our tax base doesn’t change all that much."
Board member Rick Quinones Jr. said the board members "struggled mightily to try to keep taxes flat or at least minimally reduced."
He said he believes the proposed budget is fair to children and to the taxpayers.
"We had several choices," Quinones said. "We could have increased the class size, but this board has historically not done this because they feel it impacts the efficiency of student learning. We could also have let teachers go. Instead, we raised taxes. It was the choice we chose. To do anything else would have required draconian cuts in student programs and would have harmed the children. We were between a rock and a hard place."
Referring to the 1996 Comprehensive Education Improvement and Financing Act (CEIFA), Quinones said the act defined what a thorough and efficient education is and was supposed to give an appropriate level of funding to achieve the goal.
"That CEIFA mandate is totally being contradicted by a freeze on state aid," he said, adding that he believes Gov. James E. McGreevey "was not meeting his responsibilities properly."