Shift from equalized valuation to pupil ratios backed by officials in both townships
By: Nick Norlen
PLAINSBORO Voters in the West Windsor-Plainsboro School District will have another decision to make this April: How they’re taxed.
At its March 13 meeting, the Board of Education voted 6-0 to approve the inclusion of a special question on the April 17 ballot .
The proposal will ask residents to vote on a switch in taxation from a system based on equalized valuation derived from each municipality’s property values to one based on the proportion of students enrolled by each township.
If approved separately by both townships, it would take effect during the 2009-2010 school year.
Mercer County Superintendent Michael Klavon said he isn’t aware of any county districts that currently use a per-pupil system.
Board member Stan Katz, who is chairman of the finance committee, said a per-pupil system would provide more stability.
"By taking enrollment percentages, you both get higher lows and lower highs, which just simply makes everything much more predictable," he said. "The stability issue trumps almost everything else."
Board President Hemant Marathe agreed.
"That will help these wide swings that happen from year to year depending on the sales in different townships and equalized value," he said.
According to the district, the switch, if enacted now, would move the tax split between the townships in the proposed budget as approximately 60 percent for West Windsor and 40 percent for Plainsboro to approximately 58 percent for West Windsor and 42 percent for Plainsboro.
Mr. Katz said the district wants to avoid instances in which "you have a good budget, but you have a bad split between the townships, so one township gets angrier than the other and tends to vote it down. This doesn’t help anybody."
Taxation on a per-pupil basis would benefit all sides, Mr. Katz said.
"This is, as far as we can see, a win-win. The school board has been talking to both townships for a long time and we stipulated that we would not even introduce this until both townships agreed that they would support it," he said.
Mayor Peter Cantu of Plainsboro and Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh of West Windsor said Wednesday that they both support the switch.
"That’s the only fair, reasonable and predictable way for the budget distribution between two townships," Mayor Hsueh said.
He said a per-pupil system would indeed create more stability.
"If we have to pay more than our share, that’s not fair. And by going by the numbers of students, nobody can argue," he said. "Every year, when it comes to the school budget, we all have to work in the dark. By changing the formula, at minimum we have some idea of what the share for West Windsor and Plainsboro will be."
Calling the proposed per-pupil system "more appropriate," and "more understandable and subject to less controversy," Mayor Cantu said it would help to eliminate some of the disputes that arise from equalized valuation.
"It takes away that possibility for conflict between the communities," he said. "I think this makes some sense from the school board’s perspective and also from the municipal perspective."
Mayor Cantu said he thinks voters will support the switch "given the history of it and given the fact that it’s a cleaner approach."
Mayor Hsueh said he hopes voters show the same support their township officials have for the change.
"I’m happy to see that finally all of the three entities are all in agreement," he said.