School board to review proposal MOnday
By:Sally Goldenberg
School taxes in Hillsborough would increase from $5,247 this year to $5,405 in the 2003-04 school year if the Board of Education accepts the Township Committee’s recommendation to cut $1.16 million from the defeated $85.3 million school budget.
At its Tuesday meeting, the committee recommended the amount and presented a corresponding list of items to cut, including an assistant superintendent, five new high school teachers, new varsity ice hockey and volleyball teams, and a middle school track team. State law requires defeated school budgets to be examined by the local governing body to see if spending cuts are warranted.
The board can accept the suggested amount which would lower the tax levy from the proposed $56.8 million to $55.6 million but alter the cuts. It can also appeal the amount of the cut to the state commissioner of education, or follow the committee’s recommendation entirely.
The board will vote on its course of action at its Monday meeting.
Deputy Mayor Steve Sireci said the cuts would not mar the quality of education in the district.
"We concentrated almost totally on administrative expenses. None of it has to do with decreasing or eliminating an educational program," Dr. Sireci said at the meeting.
The recommended cuts would translate into a drop in the school tax rate from $1.749 to $1.663 per $100 of assessed property. The board budget, which voters defeated 1,922 to 1,347 on April 15, would have lowered the school tax rate to $1.679 per $100 of assess property value.
The cuts mean a homeowner whose property is assessed at the township average of $325,000 will pay about $52 less than would have been required if the board’s original budget had passed last month.
Last year, the average school tax bill was $5,247, based on an average assessment of $300,000, but nearly all taxpayers will pay more in school taxes next year because of recent property reassessments in Hillsborough.
During the meeting Dr. Sireci said he and committee member John Soren reflected on homeowners’ distress when they took a knife to the budget. He said most residents voiced grievances to him about the school budget during campaign season last year.
"I can’t tell you how many people said: ‘What are you going to do about the Board of Education budget?’" he said in a telephone interview yesterday. "How many messages do we have to receive before we take it seriously?" he added.
The recommended cuts were a victory for those homeowners who have publicly criticized the board for proposing a budget that would result in an inevitable tax hike during a difficult economic climate.
Following several residents who commended the committee, Cindy Klepich asked the body to consider even deeper cuts before the vote.
Citing a total tax increase of more than 10 percent from the 2002-03 school budget to the defeated spending plan, Ms. Klepich said the proposed cut was insufficient to make a reasonable dent in a homeowner’s tax bill.
"You need to protect the property values," she said, calling the recommended cut "just a sliver" off of a budget of $85.3 million.
But Committeewoman Sonya Martin, the lone voice of dissent on the council, said the cuts would impair the quality of education in the township, thereby reducing property value.
"We don’t serve the taxpayers of Hillsborough by cutting taxes to the point where the school system suffers," Ms. Martin said.
She cited increasing class size by cutting teachers, neglecting curriculum by removing the assistant superintendent managing it while requiring curriculum coordinators to teach classes, and cutting classroom supplies as ways the budget will worsen the quality of education.
If prospective residents have a negative impression of the school system, they are less likely to move into the township, she said.
But resident Michael Detsis said the increasing school tax burden will sooner drive away future residents than cuts to a school budget.
"If the word gets out that the number is increasing for property taxes in this town, then property values will plummet and that’s an inescapable reality," he said at the meeting.
Those suggesting the cuts, those opposing them and those commending them all agree on one thing: the tax burden in Hillsborough falls primarily on the homeowner due to limited commercial ratables.
Approximately 85 percent of ratables in the township are residential, so while per-pupil-spending is lower than some neighboring communities, property taxes are often higher.
"Hillsborough is in a terrible quandary with ratables. That makes it very difficult for our taxpayers because you don’t have those hundreds of businesses that are contributing money into the pot," Dr. Sireci said, comparing the township with Bridgewater.
Regardless of circumstance, taxes must be lowered to assist homeowners who are struggling as unemployment increases, raises decrease and stocks fall throughout the country, Dr. Sireci said.
One resident put the tax burden into the perspective of his personal life.
John Klepich told the committee: "I don’t want my taxes to be doubling every six years. I won’t be able to afford it and I have a pretty good job."

