Voters nix school tab

Voters turn down budget by a margin of five votes.

By: Melissa Hayes
   As the numbers came in, district administrators, school board members and their families held on to the hope that the news would get better. That wasn’t the case, however.
   South Brunswick voters, by a 1,475-1,470 margin on Tuesday, turned down the school district’s $81.2 million tax levy — part of the funding for a $119 million budget that would have carried a 9 percent school tax increase. Voters also turned down a second question — by a 1,506-1,330 tally — requesting $657,597 for courtesy and late busing.
   The defeat will mean that the Township Council will have to review the budget and set a tax levy for the school district.
   The mood was tense Tuesday evening in the school board office as results came in. Each time numbers were reported from one of the four polling sites that supported the budget, there was a sigh of relief. The relief, however, was offset by reports from the six sites that voted against the budget.
   Vote totals will not be official until the county approves them next week. Preliminary totals released by the district did not include the four provisional ballots cast in the township.
   Jeff Scott, assistant superintendent for business, said Tuesday evening that he now has 48 hours from the time the results came in to submit the budget to the Township Council which will then make recommendations for cuts. He said the budget will be given to the council before the end of the week.
   Next week the Middlesex County clerk will approve the vote tally.
   Mr. Scott said the council and school board would likely meet to discuss the budget over the next few weeks. The council has until May 19 to submit its recommendations to the county and the district.
   Once that is done, the district has 15 days to appeal to the state education commissioner.
   Budget Committee Chairman Marty Abschutz said it is really up to the council what happens next.
   "The council has the same options, as I understand it, with the second question as they do with the first," said Mr. Abschutz, who was one of two incumbents to win re-election. "The council could take a hard look at the second question and decide that some of the parts are needed. They can decide if none, some, or all of it is needed. The second question is kind of an interesting issue."
   Ron Rice, a Department of Education spokesman, said the state statute is unclear as to whether the council can review a defeated second question. He said he did not want to comment on the busing question without seeing its wording.
   Assuming the board will not have the money from the second question available, it will either have to cancel the service or find an alternative means to fund it. The question covered busing for early morning music programs, after-school late runs and transportation for students living between one and two miles from their schools and one and two-and-one-half miles from the high school. Mr. Scott said funding options could include charging parents for the service or asking the township for assistance.
   Mr. Scott and Mr. Abschutz both said that when the budget failed in 1998 it was a much larger margin, so the council decided to shave a cent off the increase.
   "It depends on how sympathetic the town is," said Matthew Speesler, the other incumbent board member to win re-election. "If the township feels the budget is reasonable they don’t have to cut anything."
   The budget had called for a 19-cent increase per $100 of assessed valuation. That amount included 16.8 cents for the general fund, 0.8 cents for the second question and 1.4 cents from already approved debt.
   While several parents and community members out at the polls spoke positively about the budget, the majority of voters approached by the South Brunswick Post did not want to comment.
   Lisa Freedman of Breeze Drive in Dayton, who was voting at Indian Fields Tuesday afternoon, said her family supported the budget.
   "I’m voting for it even though taxes are going up. Some people are voting against it," she said.
   Ms. Freedman, who teaches in another district, said she understands that schools always need more funding.
   "Every school wants more materials, even if it seems like they have a lot, they always need more," she said.
   An older couple who voted after Ms. Freedman had a different view.
   "Basically as senior citizens we can’t afford the increase," said the woman who would not give her name.
   Yatin Shah of Liberty Drive in Dayton, who voted at the Woodlot Park Community Center Tuesday evening, said he would not disclose how he voted, but he felt the budget increase could have been less.
   "I think they can still reduce the budget further and there of ways of doing it if they wanted to pursue it," he said.