Budgets up for approval in three area districts
Area school officials are hoping that a flood of voters today will follow Sunday and Monday’s flood of water as polls open for school board elections and budget votes.
Here is a rundown of what is in store for voters in the three Packet area districts:
Princeton
Princeton residents will vote on a $56.19 million school tax levy budget today that would increase their tax rate by 10 cents in the township and 16 cents in the borough.
The total school budget for the 2007-2008 school year is $76.1 million.
Under the proposed budget, an average borough resident would pay $1.89 per $100 of assessed value in school taxes. For an average home assessed at $348,413, a resident would pay $560 more than last year, totaling an average of $6,585.
An average township homeowner would pay $1.72 per $100 of assessed value in school taxes, totaling $7,360 for a home assessed at the average of $427,900 more than a 6 percent increase from the 2006 tax rate.
Township residents will also choose among three candidates for two school board vacancies, including incumbent JoAnn Cunningham and newcomers Dorothy Bedford and Naomi Perlman.
School Board Vice President Alan Hegedus is running unopposed in Princeton Borough.
Superintendent Judy Wilson said Monday the flooding caused by the nor’easter would not delay the election, although the district was not expected to receive its polling machines from the county until Tuesday morning.
Polls will be open from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. Polling districts are as follows in Princeton Borough:
District 1 (General Election 1,7,8) Suzanne Paterson Center.
District 2 (General Election 2,6) Princeton High School cafeteria.
District 3 (General Election 3,9) John Witherspoon Middle School.
District 4 (General Election 4,5) John Witherspoon Middle School.
Polling districts in Princeton Township are as follows:
District 5 (General Election 1,4,7) Community Park School.
District 6 (General Election 2,8,11,13) Johnson Park School.
District 7 (General Election 6, 14) Littlebrook School.
District 8 (General Election 3,12) Riverside School.
District 9 (General Election 5,10) Littlebrook School.
District 10 (General Election 9) Riverside School.
Courtney Gross
Montgomery
The polls for the school board election and budget vote are open today from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Princeton Elks Lodge on Route 518 in Blawenburg, across from the Cherry Valley Country Club.
The 2007-2008 $73 million budget was built around the new state-imposed 4 percent cap on tax increases, which forced the board to search for new revenue sources to combat what became a $2.1 million shortfall from the 2006-2007 budget.
These revenue sources included a plan to sell advertising space on some athletic structures and a fee charged to students taking part in extracurricular activities.
In the end, the Montgomery Board of Education came up with a budget that hands the taxpayers their lowest tax increase in years, with an average jump of $235 for a Montgomery home.
Five candidates are competing for the three available seats on the board, including incumbents Andrea Bradley and Dr. Reginald Luke, and newcomers Matthew Galvin, Thomas McGrew and Yiping Wang.
The election remains on schedule despite the flooding experienced with the nor’easter that struck the area Sunday and Monday.
Greg Forester
West Windsor-Plainsboro
Residents of the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District will vote on three issues Tuesday: the election of three Board of Education candidates, the proposed 2007-2008 school budget, and a question proposing a different taxation system for both townships.
In West Windsor, newcomers Brett Boal, Jay Bryant, Michael Donnelly and incumbents Robert Johnson and Hemant Marathe are seeking two available seats.
Incumbent Ellen Walsh is running unopposed in Plainsboro.
In terms of the budget, residents will decide whether to approve one proposing a 6-cent rate increase in West Windsor and a 1-cent decrease in Plainsboro’s rate.
The budget adopted by the school board totals $147,155,853 a 4.3 percent increase over last year.
If the budget is approved, West Windsor residents would pay $1.20 per $100 of assessed valuation, up from $1.14 in 2006, while Plainsboro residents would see their rate drop from $1.45 to $1.44.
For the tax apportionment question, residents will vote on whether to keep the current system, based on the equalized valuation determined by each township’s property values, or to switch to one based on the proportional number of students enrolled in each township.
If a switch were approved by both townships, it would take effect during the 2009-2010 school year.
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Nick Norlen