FREEHOLD – The Borough Council has cut $67,000 from the 2008-09 general fund local tax levy that the Freehold Borough Board of Education sought to collect from property owners.
Acting on May 5, the council certified a tax levy of $7.73 million for the coming school year. Voters in the April 15 school election rejected the board’s proposed tax levy of $7.8 million.
The school district’s total budget for 2008-09 amounts to $19.6 million. The tax levy is the amount that property owners in the borough, as a whole, will pay to support the school budget.
According to the resolution passed by the council, borough officials received a copy of the proposed 2008-09 school budget on April 18.
Following its review of the budget, the council said the recommended reduction in the tax levy will be realized “without adversely affecting the district’s ability to provide a thorough and efficient education” to children by not hiring a bilingual education instructor who was due to be hired ($47,000 savings) and not hiring a individual listed under Other Operations and Maintenance of Plant ($20,000 savings).
Superintendent of Schools Elizabeth O’Connell and Board of Education President Jim Keelan were present at the council meeting when the reduction in the tax levy was announced.
Councilman Jaye Sims, who is the council’s liaison to the school board, said a state-imposed limit on how much money can be raised in local taxes is “difficult” and acknowledged that the council understood that board members “had a difficult task.”
Sims said he, Councilwoman Sharon Shutzer, O’Connell, school district BusinessAdministrator VeronicaWolf, Keelan and school board Vice President Ron Reich met to discuss the budget.
“Probably none of us are in agreement with this formula or the system,” Shutzer said, “but it is in place and by law, we must abide by it. We have the utmost respect for the board of education and the school administrators. We are below spending level in every area. We feel that the money for the taxes is well spent. They deserve all the credit. We met as the law said and discussed areas where we could make cuts.”
As a result of the reduction in the tax levy, the Freehold Borough K-8 school tax rate will increase by 2 cents per $100 of assessed valuation in the coming year, instead of the projected 2.4-cent increase. That means the owner of a home assessed at the borough average of $257,000 will pay an increase of about $51 in K-8 school taxes in the coming year, instead of an increase of about $62.
The council’s resolution states that the school district’s proposed budget is “$3,297,898 below the school district’s adequacy level to provide a thorough and efficient education as calculated by the Department of Education under the newly devised school funding formula.”
Keelan thanked the members of the governing body for encouraging and helping the district’s personnel to solve their budget issues. He noted a low voter turnout on Election Day and said it is hard to be responsive to a public when there is no public to address. Keelan encouraged residents to come to board meetings and to vote in the annual school election.
“There’s a lot of tax dollars tied up here. It’s important to get involved and vote,” the board president said.