South River board goes with zero tax increase

State gives school district $1.9 million in additional aid

BY MICHAEL ACKER Staff Writer

SOUTH RIVER – There will be no increase in school taxes in the 2008-09 budget proposed by the Board of Education.

The stable tax rate is due in part to a $1.9 million increase in state aid.

The state aid also allowed the board to avoid making cuts, and to create an advanced placement (AP) program, hire additional special needs staff, and fund various improvements, according to board President Regis Wyluda.

“At the last budget meeting last week, we revised [the tax increase] to be zero,” Wyluda said. “The levy remains the same.”

The news comes at a time when borough taxpayers are facing significant municipal tax and electric rate increases,Wyluda said. He said the board and its finance committee was able to achieve the zero tax hike by running the district efficiently and receiving additional state aid via the new state funding formula.

“We took a hard look at the budget, while ensuring a quality education, but keeping in mind what the residents can afford,” Wyluda said.

“We are still the second lowest in the state as far as cost per pupil,” he added.

The cost per pupil in South River is $8,766, according to budget information on the district’s Web site. The average school district in the state pays roughly $11,500 per pupil.

Board member Peggy Marino, who heads the finance committee, said the board was able to cut back on the budget by negotiating with its insurance carriers.

She also noted that the budget includes the final phase of the project to replace the old carpeting at the middle school with vinyl tile.

“We are doing some improvements at the high school and the middle school, and we were able to do that without increasing the budget, so we are ecstatic,”Marino said. “…We are just happy to introduce a budget with a zero-percent increase.”

Board member Karl Haider said the leaky roof for the high school auditorium is proposed to be addressed in this budget.

“We are going to fix that if the budget passes,” Haider said. “That is the only big ticket item in the budget.”

The municipality’s budget woes, which include a reduction in state aid, had an impact on the school board’s decision against introducing a school tax increase, Haider said.

“They had their financial aid cut, so we tried very hard and worked very hard to reduce our budget to make sure there was no tax increase,”Haider said. “I think that the finance committee did an outstanding job.”

South River, like many school districts, has dealt with flat state aid for years. Haider said the last time the state increased its aid to South River, it was much lower than this year’s $1.9million increase.

“It was not even close,” Haider said.

Wyluda said that if the state continues to increase aid to the district, the board would look into doing more improvements.

“By increasing it every year, we will be able to do more, [like] increasing staff or whatever,”Wyluda said. “We will keep it at a reasonable cost to our citizens of South River.

“[There is] no increase in the school budget at all, knowing that the town [budget] is going up and electric rates in South River have gone up astronomically,” he said. “The people can only endure somuch.”