Officials did not cut anything from the school’s budget despite it being rejected voters April 15.
By: Linda Seida
STOCKTON It’s official.
The average homeowner in Stockton Borough will pay $176 more in taxes now that the Borough Council unanimously approved Stockton Elementary School’s budget of $484,276 with no cuts.
The final vote was taken May 15. The council had been prepared to approve the budget weeks earlier during a joint public meeting with the school board held April 29, but an error in the way the meeting was advertised prohibited a vote.
Little discussion preceded the vote, and no residents were present at the council meeting.
The budget will raise taxes in the borough by 9 percent. The tax rate will be $1.04 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, up from 95 cents this year. The owner of a home assessed at the average of $196,000 will pay a total of $2,038 a year, an increase of $176.
The Stockton Elementary School budget was one of three proposed school budgets defeated by voters April 15, along with those of West Amwell Elementary School and South Hunterdon Regional High School.
Despite a thumbs-down reaction from voters in April, borough officials believed the proposed budget was as lean as school officials could make it, Mayor Gregg Rackin said after the first meeting was held April 29. Three-quarters of the total budget will go toward salaries and benefits, which are governed by binding contracts. In other areas, including supplies and transportation, the school board actually reduced the budget by $9,000, according to school board President Rick McDaniel.
For the sake of students’ safety, some expenses could not be put off, according to Chief School Administrator Suzanne Ivans. These include the removal of a rotted tree overhanging the school and resurfacing the 20-year-old playground that students use for their gym area. In addition, a new roof and structural repairs to the school’s foundation are needed, according to Ms. Ivans.

