Budget carries tax hike

April 15 ballot
to feature budget vote,
two additional questions

By sue m. morgan
Staff Writer

Budget
carries tax hike
April 15 ballot
to feature budget vote,
two additional questions
By sue m. morgan
Staff Writer

OLD BRIDGE — The Board of Education unanimously adopted a $110.2 million budget for the 2003-04 academic year following a public hearing Thursday night.

That budget, sporting a 12-cent, or 2.93 percent, increase in the school tax rate, will go before district taxpayers during the April 15 school election.

The budget consists of $104.3 million in the general fund, $2.92 million in the special revenue fund. and $2.98 million in debt service, according to documents released by the district’s business office.

Voters will be asked to approve a total tax levy of $68,223,529 for the district’s general fund, which covers the operating expenses of the district’s 15 schools.

Under the adopted budget, the school tax rate will increase to $2.17 per $100 of assessed valuation.

As a result, school taxes on a township home assessed at $144,000 would increase by $172.80, from $2,952 to $3,124.80, during the 2003-04 academic year.

The 12-cent tax hike consists of 8 cents for the general fund and 4 cents for debt service to pay for the $66 million school construction referendum approved by voters in September 2001. The 8-cent tax hike amounts to a total increase of $115.20 for the general fund. The 4-cent portion amounts to $57.60 for the debt service.

The tentative budget first presented to the school board by the administration during a Feb. 26 meeting carried a 13-cent tax hike. However, the tax levy was cut to 12 cents due to savings of nearly $320,000 in health insurance costs resulting from the district’s recent contract settlement with the Old Bridge Education Association (OBEA), according to Assistant Superintendent for Business Dr. R. Gregory Quirk.

That $320,000 figure amounts to one tax point, which in turn allowed the 1-cent tax cut, Quirk said.

The general fund tax levy increase can be attributed primarily to increasing operating costs resulting from steadily growing enrollment and the freezing of state aid to the district for the third consecutive year, Quirk said.

An additional 156 students have entered the district since the current school year began in September, Quirk said. The state’s education department predicts that another 169 students will enter the district’s schools for the 2003-04 year, he added.

In anticipation of the increased enrollment, funds have been included in the coming year’s budget to hire five new high school teachers and one computer teacher for the elementary school, Quirk noted.

With state aid remaining frozen at $36.3 million in spite of the increased enrollment, property owners must bear the tax burden in order to maintain current levels of service, he said.

Since October, school board members have put much time and effort into formulating the budget and keeping the tax increase to a minimum while preserving services and programs, Quirk said.

"This budget was put together through tremendous deliberation [and] tremendous time on the part of the board members," he pointed out.

Voters will also be asked — in two questions that will be placed on the April 15 ballot in addition to the general budget question — whether to hire two additional substance awareness counselors (SACs), as well as whether to continue a program that allows five uniformed police officers to patrol the district’s two middle schools and two high school campuses.

Public Question No. 2 asks taxpayers to spend $106,000 to hire the two SACs to be employed — one each at the Jonas Salk Middle School and the Carl Sandburg Middle School.

Presently, there are two SACs employed in the district to serve both the two high school campuses and the two middle schools, district officials have said. Because those two SACs spend "99 percent" of their time at the high school, the district needs two more counselors so as not to shortchange the sixth- through eighth-graders in the middle schools, Quirk said.

For taxpayers, the cost of hiring two more SACs would amount to seven points, or two-tenths of a cent, on the tax rate, he added.

Public Question No. 3 will ask taxpayers to spend $420,000 to continue to fund the salaries of five school resource officers (SROs). A three-year federal grant awarded to the district in 2001 to fund the SRO program will expire at the end of the year, officials have said.

If the program, which has reportedly been well received by administrators, teachers, staff, parents and students, is to continue, it must be funded by taxpayers in absence of the receipt of another grant, Quirk said.

Although the five SROs would remain on the township police department’s payroll, the $420,000 would pay their salaries for the 10 months of the school year, officials have said.

"We believe that [the SRO program] is the best way to provide support for students in the high school and middle school," Quirk said.

Three terms on the school board, each lasting for three years, will also be voted on in this year’s election. Board Vice President Annette Hopman and fellow incumbents Albert DiRocco and Ellen McDermott are seeking re-election to consecutive terms.

Former board president Frank Weber, who lost his seat in last year’s election, is seeking to return to the board this year.

Old Bridge High School graduate and current Rutgers University student John Allen, who once served as the student representative to the board, is seeking a first elected term.

Polling locations will be open from 2 to 9 p.m. April 15.