HAZLET — The Board of Education has accepted and approved the township’s recommendation to reduce the 2009-10 school budget by $621,456 after residents failed to pass the budget in April.
The reduction resulted in a net budget increase of only 1.56 percent.
Superintendent of Schools William O. George III said that he appreciated the Township Committee’s work on the budget but is still disappointed that the budget didn’t pass as originally proposed.
“The Township Committee knows that the democracy has spoken,” George said. “When your budget is defeated by over 300 votes, there is only so much you can do. I support them in their decision in that they have a responsibility to the town to make the cuts.”
A total of 1,037, or 59.32 percent, of those who turned out for the April 21 election voted against the proposed budget while only 711 voted yes.
The Hazlet district proposed a $47,244,902 budget, which represented a 2.46 percent increase over the 2008-09 budget of $46,111,250. The spending plan would have increased the tax rate by 3.4 cents per $100 of assessed value. For a house assessed at $150,000, the tax increase would have been $46 for the year.
Last year’s budget passed by a mere 18 votes while the budget failed in the prior two years.
George said that the township was tasked with cutting the budget and appreciated the fact that the township worked with the district when deciding what could be cut.
“They were concerned and they were doing their diligence while trying to limit the impact on the district,” George said. “They really tried to work with us when coming up with their number.”
He said that with the budget providing for the second year in a row the lowest cost per pupil in the county, he was hoping for another passed budget.
“Am I happy that the district with the highest per-pupil cost budget passed, while the township with the lowest failed? No,” George said. “We tried to be as transparent as possible in the whole process.”
The major cuts in the budget stem from $250,000 that was to be spent on busing students who live less than two miles away from their schools.
The district wanted to lower the limit from two miles to one and a half miles or less.
Another cut was $58,781 by eliminating a guidance counselor position in the middle school as well as $52,245 by cutting a media center professional position.
By eliminating the positions, the district saved $22,778 on health insurance payments.
Also a $40,000 science lab redesign was shelved as part of the cuts.
George said that when the district has the full funding that they put out to vote in their budget, they could make regular improvements for the facilities in the district when needed.
“We continuously look to make upgrades, for example fixing the roofs of the buildings, but when the budget fails we can get stuck making the improvements outside of the budget,” George said. “It is the vision of the board to make upgrades when they are needed as opposed to going out for million dollar referendums to build new structures.”
He also said that by making improvements to the buildings, the district realizes an energy savings.
The Board of Education passed the amended budget at the May 11 meeting and George said district officials would continue to find new ways to get the budget information out to the voters.
George and district Business Administrator Christopher Mullins made presentations at PTA and Township Committee meetings to build support for the budget.
“We have to continue to reflect on what our budget process was and try to do things differently,” George said. “We were very transparent with our process this year, putting all of the information on the website, even placing the actual presentation on it. We just have to continue to be fiscally and educationally responsible when coming up with our budget.”
Contact Jamie Romm at jromm@gmnews.
com.