Millstone Township school
tax hike due to staff increases
JEFF GRANIT staff Millstone school officials wasted no time in thanking residents for approving the March 9 building referendum.
BY PATRICIA A. MILLER
Staff Writer
Residents here will see a 5.8-cent hike in their municipal school tax rate, if the county school superintendent approves the budget submitted by the Millstone Board of Education.
"It’s not ironclad yet," said Millstone Superintendent William J Setaro.
This year’s budget totals $24,138,728, up 1.67 percent over last year.
The current expense portion of the budget is $396,700, Setaro said.
The district received $4,581,459 in state aid, an increase of 3 percent, or $133,000 over last year, he said.
While Setaro is grateful for the increase, he is quick to point out that the district had no increase in state aid for two years.
"My enrollment grew by 18 percent in those three years," he said. "And what was inflation in the last two years? I’m very appreciative, but something has to be done with how schools are financed."
New Jersey needs to find a way to finance school districts without relying on property taxes, he said.
"I think all across New Jersey, the average person is being taxed out of their homes," Setaro said.
Voters will be asked to approve a school tax levy of $18,706,064. The school tax rate will rise from $1.51 to $1.57 for each $100 of assessed valuation.
The primary reason for the increase is additional staff, Setaro said.
In the elementary school, the district is adding two full-time teaching positions — one in first grade and one in second — and a part-time basic skills teacher, he said.
The elementary school will also have four more extracurricular positions for homework peer tutoring and Project Pride, a fourth-grade program, he said.
Staff increases in the middle school include an assistant principal, a language arts teacher, a world language teacher, a special education teacher and one remedial teacher, he said.
Middle school staff additions also include part-time science and physical education teachers, as well as 12 advisory positions for after-school activities, said Setaro.
The district plans to replace 30 computers in the middle school computer lab, he said.
Plans also call for the purchase of three new school buses, and the construction of a small maintenance garage next to the current transportation garage, Setaro said.
"We don’t have any place for them [maintenance people] to work now," he said.
The district was able to pare down cost increases for providing health care for district employees. Past projections indicated a 20- to 25-percent rise, but the final numbers showed a 12-percent increase, he said.
"We go through an independent broker who shops around and gets us the best deal," said Setaro.
The cost of the newly approved referendum will not be reflected in this year’s budget, Setaro said.
The bottom line is that even if a school district stays with the same enrollment, costs are going to go up, he added.
"Costs always go up," Setaro said. "Your budget has to rise."
The school board has scheduled a budget presentation for March 29. The annual school board election will be held on April 20.