LAWRENCE: District expects 2-cent tax hike

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
The Lawrence Township public school district’s proposed $65.3 million budget for 2009-10 is expected to be unveiled before the Lawrence Township Board of Education Monday night.
    The school board will meet at 7 p.m. in the Lawrence High School library. The board is expected to discuss the proposed spending plan and adopt the preliminary budget at the meeting.
    Another meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday at 7 p.m. between the school board and Township Council at the Municipal Building. The two bodies expect to share their respective budgets.
    The proposed 2009-10 budget does not show an increase over the current budget, said Thomas Eldridge, the school board secretary and business administrator. The overall budget will decrease by $22,906, he said.
    Mr. Eldridge said the school district expects the overall amount of state aid — $5.1 million — to remain flat. The only question is the amount of extraordinary state aid for special education, he said Wednesday afternoon.
    However, the tentative school district tax rate is projected to increase by 2 cents — from $2.19 per $100 of assessed value to $2.21, Mr. Eldridge said.
    This means the owner of a house assessed at the township average of $164,580 would pay $3,637 in school district property taxes — an increase of $33 over the current tax bill.
    Mr. Eldridge said that although the spending plan has not shown an increase, the tax rate has risen because of a drop in the value of the township’s ratable base. The township’s ratable base — the taxable value of property — is $2.68 billion for 2009, as compared to $2.69 billion in 2008. This is a decrease of $7 million.
    Meanwhile, the proposed budget shows a $1 million increase in salaries and wages, and a $905,000 increase in employee benefits. Those increases — along with smaller increases in other areas — have been offset by a decrease in tuition for students enrolled in special schools outside the district and a decrease in transportation costs.
    The school district has reduced tuition for special needs students from $3.2 million in the 2008-09 budget to $2 million for the proposed budget, Mr. Eldridge said. The number of special needs students sent to special schools has declined from 130 students four years ago to 55 students now, he said.
    Mr. Eldridge said he expects transportation costs to be reduced by $412,596 — in part because there are fewer special needs students to transport to out-of-district schools and because the district has purchased a few buses. The district relies on a private contractor to bus the majority of students.
    About $100,000 of that amount is due to a change in the starting times for the schools, he said. The new starting times would allow the transportation company to use the same school bus to make two runs instead of the present three runs. The revised transportation system allows the district to make more efficient use of the bus routes.
    The district also is saving $80,000 in utilities because of the solar energy initiative, Mr. Eldridge said. Solar energy panels are being installed on the roofs of all schools, and the district expects the electricity generated by those panels to offset some of the district’s electricity costs.