Incumbents gain re-election to board of education.
By: Steve Feitl
Lawrence Township voters on Tuesday approved the tax levy for the school district’s $50.6 million operating budget for 2003-04.
Also at the polls Tuesday, voters elected incumbents Michael Brindle, Michael Wilson and Michael Winka over newcomer Daniel Surtz in the race for three school board seats.
The budget question passed with 916 votes in approval, and 722 against it, meaning the majority of township voters decided to approve the $42.3 million tax levy to support the school district’s $50.6 million operating budget for the 2003-04 school year.
The school district property tax rate will now increase 7 cents – from $1.49 per $100 of assessed value to $1.56. The owner of a house assessed at the township average of $162,950 will pay $2,542.02 in school district property taxes – or $114.07 more than the 2002-03 tax bill of $2,427.95.
The terms on the board of education are for three years.
Mr. Winka led all voters with 981 votes, followed by 955 for Mr. Wilson and 934 for Mr. Brindle. Mr. Surtz had an impressive showing in his first bid for school board, garnering 895 votes.
Mr. Brindle was elected to his fifth term. He lives on Puritan Avenue. He is an instrumental music teacher in the Hopewell Valley Regional School District. He has one grown daughter.
Dr. Wilson was elected to his second term. He lives on Carver Place. He is the supervisor of curriculum for the Washington Township School District. He has two grown children and a stepdaughter who is a Lawrence High School junior.
Mr. Winka was elected to his third term. He lives on Rossa Avenue. He is the energy program director for the state Board of Public Utilities. He has three children – one in college, a sophomore at Lawrence High School and an eighth-grader at Lawrence Middle School.
It would have been Mr. Surtz’s first term. He is an attorney with the Princeton law firm of Maselli Warren P.C. He lives on Devon Avenue. He has a young son, and he and his wife are expecting their second child this year.
For more on this story, see the April 17, 2003, edition of The Lawrence Ledger.

