CENTRAL JERSEY: Regional school district to raise borough taxes, cut jobs

By Sean Ruppert, Staff Writer
   East Windsor residents would see their school tax rate rise by a little less than 1 cent under the Regional School District’s proposed $83.2 million budget for the 2009-2010 school year.
   However, Hightstown residents would see the equivalent of an approximate 12-cent rate increase. Schools Superintendent Ron Bolandi said he is not sure of the exact increase due to the borough’s recent tax revaluation.
   The Board of Education gave its approval Monday night to the budget, which calls for the elimination of 16 jobs. A public hearing is scheduled for March 30, after which voters get their say at the ballot box April 21.
   The total budget figure includes $3.68 million in debt service and $1.45 million in special revenue, along with the $78 million operating budget. Last year’s total was budget was $80.5 million.
   Under the proposed 2009-2010 budget, East Windsor residents would pay $3.47 per $100 of assessed value. That means that a homeowner assessed at the township average of $133,719 would pay $4,640 in school taxes.
   Hightstown residents would pay $1.65 per $100 of assessed value under the new tax valuation. That means that the owner of a home assessed at the township average of $270,500 would pay $4,463.25 in school taxes.
   With regional districts, tax impacts can differ among communities because of a state-mandated equalization formula based on student enrollment and taxable property in different municipalities.
   The 16 lost jobs come through both attrition and possible layoffs for a savings of $1.36 million in salary and benefits. Mr. Bolandi said it looks as though the bulk of the reductions will come through attrition, but he doesn’t yet have exact numbers.
   Among the planned jobs cut are three elementary school teachers, two special education teachers and one English-as-a-second-language teacher. Mr. Bolandi said falling enrollment at the Grace Rogers and the Perry Drew elementary schools allows for the reduction in teachers, and that there are no longer enough students who needed the special education and ESL classes that are being cut.
   In addition, the district plans to eliminate two elementary Spanish teaching positions that were previously paid for by a grant. The district would have two Spanish teachers for the four elementary schools, Mr. Bolandi said.
   Six administrative positions are also targeted for elimination.
   Mr. Bolandi said the budget estimates the salaries of teachers and support staff because their current contracts run out June 30, and the Board of Education is negotiating with both of their unions. He said he could not reveal those projections.
   The biggest increase in spending is in employee benefits — projected to increase from $14.8 million to $16 million.
   Despite the job cuts, no programs are planned to be eliminated, classroom size will not increase and only the elementary Spanish program was reduced, Mr. Bolandi said.
   ”We didn’t want to cut what is happening in the classroom,” he said in an interview Tuesday. “We kept the people that are directly teaching in place and cut everything around it instead.”
   The district does plan to eliminate assessment testing of grades two, nine and 10, which are not mandated by the state for a savings of $25,000.
   The district plans to use $500,000 in surplus as revenue, the same as it used in the 2008-2009 and 2007-2008 budgets. Mr. Bolandi said that would leave about $600,000 left in the district’s surplus account. Mr. Bolandi said the district is using more surplus than is recommended by the state but he is comfortable with the amount being used.
   ”I don’t think we need to carry a heavy surplus,” he said.
   The proposed local tax levy is set at $54.6 million, about a 1.6 percent increase from last year’s general levy of $53.7 million. The increase falls under the state’s 4 percent cap by about $3.4 million. The district received about $19.5 million in state aid, the same as last year.
   The total amount to be raised through taxation comes to $58 million when debt service is included. Voters, however, will only get their say on the $54.6 million levy because the debt payments are approved when the bonds are passed.
   Mr. Bolandi said this is the first year that the district has not increased the levy all the way to the cap during his tenor at East Windsor Regional.
   ”The board gave me direction that they wanted the (tax levy) to be closer to last year’s number than to the cap,” he said. “In this economic crisis I don’t believe that we had a choice.”
   Mr. Bolandi said district officials began the budget process by assuming a tax levy of $58 million — the maximum it could be increased to under the state cap — and then cut back toward the 2008-09 figures from there. He added that school leaders cut about $2 million from supply, equipment and miscellaneous line items from their original budge projections to get to the $54.6 million figure being proposed.
   Revenues projected in the budget include $744,823 in tuition from Roosevelt Borough, $292,624 from community education and $288,000 in other unrestricted miscellaneous revenue.