vote slated for Sept. 30
District states tax impact
of construction projects
Manalapan-Englishtown
vote slated for Sept. 30
By dave benjamin
Staff Writer
ENGLISHTOWN — Residents of Manalapan and Englishtown now know how much they will pay if they approve a Sept. 30 school construction referendum.
Voters will be asked on that day to approve a $48.8 million plan to build additions at two schools and to make other improvements in the K-8 Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District.
State education officials have said they will pay $14.3 million of the project cost, leaving taxpayers with a balance of $34.5 million to pay off over several decades.
"The district is very fortunate that the state awarded us over 29 percent toward the total referendum project," said Superintendent of Schools Maureen Lally. "Our efficient long-range planning served to have benefits for the community. We anticipated $10.8 million based on similar districts and we are actually receiving $14.3 million" from the state.
According to figures provided by the district, the owner of a home assessed at $250,000 in Manalapan will pay $149.91 annually for the first four years of the bond payback. From years 5-25, that annual payment will rise to $256.19.
The owner of a home assessed at $180,000 in Englishtown will pay $109.63 for the first four years and then $187.35 annually for years 5-25 of the bond.
"It takes three years to build the project in its entirety," said Joseph F. Passiment Jr., the Board of Education’s business administrator. "Over the course of the three years you get the money up front and then you don’t start paying the bonds until the project is totally completed. So, by the time 2005-06 rolls around you’ll be implementing the full cost of those bonds at that time. That’s when the debt will be added."
The first set of rate figures will pay the current bonds the district has, Passiment said. When the new bond issue comes into full force, the higher figure will be used.
"What happens here is that you sell the bonds at the beginning of the project, but you don’t pay out all of the money," he explained. "So you’re earning interest on all of those bonds to defray the cost of those bonds. That’s why it’s lower in the beginning."
Passiment said when the project is completed and all of the bond money has been spent, there is no interest to pay for the bonds. All of the costs are then transferred to the taxpayers.
"That’s why the additional change is made at that point," he said. "In the beginning, interest (earned on the bonds) will pay for part of the bonds."
Officials have said the referendum projects will help to alleviate the large class sizes at most schools and will help to address current enrollments which exceed the state instructional guidelines at four of the district’s schools.
With an anticipated 722 new students expected by 2007, the referendum would help to eliminate the use of offices, conference rooms, faculty rooms and auditoriums as classrooms for children.
The project includes classroom additions at the Manalapan Englishtown Middle School; an addition at the Clark Mills School that will house all of the district’s preschool handicapped pupils and all kindergarten pupils; the replacement of windows at the Taylor Mills School, Clark Mills School, Milford Brook School and Pine Brook School.
There will also be roof replacements at Taylor Mills School, Clark Mills School and Lafayette Mills School; and heating, ventilation and air conditioning upgrades at Taylor Mills, Pine Brook and Lafayette Mills schools.