School board approves $15.6 million budget.
By: Josh Appelbaum
The Board of Education approved a $15.6 million proposed budget for the 2005-2006 school year that could mean a slight decrease in school taxes if approved by voters.
The proposed budget includes a 1.1-cent tax rate decrease from last year’s budget, even though overall spending is slated to increase 16 percent. The proposed operating budget for 2005-2006 is $13 million, $1.6 million will go to capital projects and the district will make $823,731 in debt payments. The district also received approximately $1.3 million in state aid for the 2005-2006 school year.
On April 19, Cranbury residents will vote on a $12.4 million total tax levy. If voters approve the levy, the owner of a house assessed at township average of $225,000 would pay $4,905, a $22 decrease from 2004-2005.
Two people attended Tuesday’s public hearing, including Township Committeeman Tom Panconi. Board Finance Committee Chairman Kenneth Griffin made a presentation about the budget before the hearing, at which no one commented.
Mr. Griffin said increases in enrollment for Cranbury School and Princeton High School, a new teacher’s contract and capital projects including a proposed $1.2 million heating, ventilation and air conditioning project slated to start in June drove spending up.
Mr. Griffin said the board received little aid for the proposed budget, but contained spending as much as possible. The district will receive $1.3 million in state aid for 2005-2006, a $600,000 increase from last year’s aid package. Included in this year’s state aid package is a $562,000 grant for heating, ventilation and air-conditioning upgrades at the school.
"Our objective was to give students the best possible educational opportunity while maximizing available resources," Mr. Griffin said. "We got very little federal aid and a small amount of state aid. Thankfully, the commercial and residential tax base has grown."
Warehouse and residential growth accounted for a 7.7 percent increase in the amount of taxable property in the township, which will drop the tax rate to $2.18 per $100 of assessed valuation for the 2005-2006 school year.
School Business Administrator Brian DeLucia said Tuesday the tax decrease is attributed to a larger tax base that allows the levy to be spread among more taxpayers. On the whole, assessments increased from $545.329 million in January 2004 to $587.018 million in 2005.
Spending is being driven by growing enrollment, Mr. Griffin said. Estimated enrollment for 2005-2006 will increase by 24 students at Cranbury School, while enrollment to Princeton High School is estimated to increase by 21 students. Tuition to Princeton High School increase by 4.5 percent for 2005-2006, meaning Cranbury district will pay $14,044 per student, up from this year’s figures of $13,456. Cranbury district will spend a total of $3.3 million in tuition for students at Princeton High School.
Salary and wages make up over a third of the operating budget, with wages going up 8.27 percent next year to $5.3 million. This includes a contractual 5 percent increase plus enough money to cover additional staff, if needed, he said.
Employee benefits will cost the district 15 percent more next year, to $1.54 million, making up about 10 percent of the operating budget.
The largest capital expenditure in the budget is $1.2 million for the HVAC project, which will cost a total of $1.4 million. The $200,000 for planning and design was allocated in the 2004-2005 budget. The project will include. In addition to the Save the Facilities grant, the district will also use about $450,000 from its surplus to cover its costs.

