Defeated school budget mulled

The West Amwell Township Committee will meet with members of the West Amwell Board of Education tonight (April 26).

By: Linda Seida
   WEST AMWELL — Now that voters have shot down West Amwell Elementary School’s $3.67 million budget, school officials must meet with the Township Committee to discern if an agreement can be reached on whether to cut the budget and by how much, or to leave it as is.
   They have until May 19 to reach an agreement. If they can’t, the proposed budget will be forwarded to the state, which could decide to cut it or keep it.
   School and municipal officials planned to discuss the budget tonight (April 26) in a public meeting at the township building.
   School officials speculate there could be several reasons why voters rejected the school’s proposed budget, and they wonder what could be cut from a spending plan they say is already lean.
   "We’re very disappointed," Business Administrator Richard Kilpatrick said. "Anything out of the budget hurts."
   Officials felt voters were worried about the combined impact from the budgets of both the elementary school and South Hunterdon Regional High School. Also, even if they wanted to approve the elementary school’s budget, they didn’t feel they could approve it without also approving the high school’s so they nixed both, speculated Cynthia Magill, president of the Board of Education.
   "They felt they could have dealt with West Amwell School’s increase, but not both," Mrs. Magill said.
   The last time the school’s budget was defeated at the polls was in 2003. When it went before the Township Committee, municipal officials cut $32,000 from the requested total of $3.1 million.
   The school district hoped to win approval in the April 18 election for its spending plan that would have increased taxes by $200 for the owner of a property assessed at the township average of $444,855 for a total elementary school tax of $2,801 a year. Voters nixed the proposed budget 197-180.
   "It was only 17 votes," Mr. Kilpatrick said. "I hope that will be taken into consideration. Seventeen votes is not a lot."
   In 2003, the school’s budget was defeated by a margin of 25 votes, 214-189.
   Ms. Magill speculated voters didn’t understand that voters in Lambertville and Stockton could counteract West Amwell’s no votes. The high school still won approval for its $8.66 million budget despite the predominance of no votes from West Amwell.
   "People are just overwhelmed with the tax burden," Mrs. Magill said.
   Only about 20 percent of the registered voters in the township turned out for the school election last week, according to the office of the Hunterdon County clerk.
   West Amwell shot down the high school’s budget 166-208, a margin of 42 votes, but Lambertville and Stockton cast enough yes votes to carry the high school’s budget, which passed 513-482.
   Lambertville’s tally for South Hunterdon’s budget was 285-236. Stockton’s tally was 62-38. Both districts also approved their respective elementary school budgets.