Princeton Regional, Montgomery and West-Windsor Plainsboro spending plans ready for public comment.
Princeton
The Princeton Regional Board of Education is scheduled to hold a public hearing tonight and then vote on final approval of its $62.1 million budget for 2004-2005.
Voters will have the ultimate say on the budget during school elections April 20.
The budget includes $54.6 million in operating expenses, up 4.2 percent over this year’s $52.4 million.
If the budget is approved, homeowners in Princeton Borough will pay an additional 10 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. In Princeton Township, the tax rate will go up 7 cents.
In the borough, the tax rate will be $1.56 per $100 of assessed valuation. The tax bill for the owner of an average home, assessed at $345,000, would be $5,382, a 6.8-percent increase over this year’s tax bill of $5,037.
In Princeton Township, the school tax rate will be $1.43 per $100 of assessed value. The average home, assessed at $411,800, would be taxed $5,889, a 5.2-percent increase over this year’s $5,600.
The district will use $1.2 million in "banked cap" money for special education, transportation and capital improvement money it could have spent this year. The district also will use $850,000 of its surplus.
Jeff Milgram
Montgomery
MONTGOMERY The Montgomery Board of Education will hold a public hearing before voting on the formal adoption of a $58.5 million school budget for the 2004-2005 school year tonight.
The spending plan is about $200,000 less than the $58.7 million budget introduced three weeks ago.
The original $58.7 million budget would have equated to a $7,404 school tax for the owner of a home assessed at the township average of $429,700 an increase of about $700, or 10 percent, over the current year.
But with the last-minute reductions, Montgomery Superintendent Stuart Schnur said last week the estimated increase for the average homeowner is about $600 for the new school year, or 14 percent less than originally expected.
The precise budget numbers that will be voted on tonight, as well as the final tax rate, could not be determined despite repeated phone calls to school officials.
The school budget increase has been largely attributed to the rapidly expanding enrollment in the school system, which is projected to increase 6 percent next year.
The school board elections will take place at the Orchard Hill Elementary School from 2 to 9 p.m. April 20.
Jill Matthews
West Windsor-Plainsboro
Residents can speak their minds about the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional Board of Education’s $130 million budget proposal tonight.
A public hearing on the proposal which reflects a 4.4-percent increase over this year’s $124 million budget begins at 7:30 p.m. at Grover Middle School, 10 Southfield Road.
School officials attribute the increase to growing enrollment, contractual increases and rising utility costs, among other things.
The proposal includes eight new teaching positions, restores funding for stipends for the outdoor education program and money for an array of capital projects, including a new roof at Millstone River School and a new pool heater at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South.
If approved, Plainsboro residents would see an increase of 28.8 cents, bringing their school tax rate to $2.30 per $100 of assessed property value. The tax rate in West Windsor would decrease by 1.7 cents, lowering it to $2.55 per $100 of assessed property value.
Under those rates, the owner of a home assessed at Plainsboro’s average of $190,700 would pay $4,392 a hike of $548 or 14.3 percent over last year’s bill. A West Windsor resident with a home assessed at the township average of $239,600 would pay $6,117 a drop of nearly $40.
Voters go to the polls April 20.
Shanay Cadette