CENTRAL JERSEY: School budgets, board candidates on ballots Wednesday

By Joanne Degnan, Staff Writer
   Local residents will be voting on school budgets and electing members of their boards of education when annual school elections are held on Wednesday.
   The proposed school budgets in Robbinsville, Upper Freehold Regional, Millstone and Plumsted all comply with a new state law that sets a 2 percent cap on increases in the tax levy, which is the amount collected in taxation. If approved, the average annual school tax increase would be $46 in Plumsted; $164 in Allentown; $255 in Upper Freehold; $257 in Robbinsville; and $562 in Millstone.
   There also are school board elections in all districts, but the only contested races locally are in Robbinsville, Millstone and one of the Allentown seats on the Upper Freehold Regional Board of Education. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. in Robbinsville and Plumsted, and from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. in Millstone and UFRSD.
   For election results, see www.centraljersey.com after the polls close Wednesday night.
Robbinsville school budget
   Voters will be deciding whether to approve a $31.5 million general fund school tax levy for 2011-2012 that is $617,680 higher than the current year and within the state’s new 2 percent cap law.
   The budget would restore a handful of the 26 staff positions cut during last year’s school budget crisis. This would enable the district to reduce class sizes at the high school where some English and history classes have 35 or so students and some gym classes have 40 or more students.
   At Pond Road Middle School, where the student-to-guidance counselor ratio for grades 4-8 has grown to 600-to-1, one student assistance counselor would be hired to reduce the high caseload. At Sharon Elementary School, one literacy support teacher would be hired for students who need extra help in reading.
   The budget also allocates funds for curriculum and technology upgrades that were cut from last year’s budget, sets aside more money for building maintenance, and saves for future capital improvements, such as the modular classrooms that are expected to be needed at Sharon School within the next few years. Voters defeated a referendum to build a new elementary school in 2010.
   The new tax rate would be $1.4332 per $100 in assessed valuation, meaning the owner of a home assessed at the new townshipwide average of $385,000 would pay $5,518 a year in school taxes. This represents an increase of $257.
   The student activity fees the district instituted last year for participation in clubs and sports would remain unchanged for 2011-2012. These fees vary, depending on the type and number of activities that students join, but are capped at $300 a year for high school students and $150 a year for middle school students.
Robbinsville candidates
   There are six people vying for four open seats on the Board of Education. Vincent Costanza, of Union Street, has no opponent in the race for a one-year unexpired term. Dr. Costanza, whose daughter will start kindergarten in September, is an early childhood program specialist and former kindergarten teacher who was appointed to the board last year to fill a vacancy.
   There is a five-way race for three other seats, all of which are for full three-year terms. The candidates are incumbents Carol Boyne, Sharon DeVito and Matthew O’Grady, and newcomers D.L. Daniel and Thomas Thackston.
   Ms. Boyne, of Barto Way, is seeking her third full term on the Board of Education. After working successfully to get the high school construction referendum approved in 2001, Ms. Boyne served on the board from 2002-2005 and then decided to run again in 2008 because the district at that time seemed to be lacking educational direction and fiscal oversight, she said.
   Ms. Boyne said the new superintendent and business administrator hired during her current term in office have set a clear educational vision for the district and resolved those past problems. Ms. Boyne, whose son attends RHS, is employed as the director of portfolio and program management at Johnson & Johnson and is the chairwoman of the school board’s Finance, Facilities and Transportation Committee. She also holds a New Jersey school business administrator certificate.
   Mr. Daniel, of Sven Way, is making his first bid for public office. He is an adjunct professor at Mercer County Community College and has a bachelor’s degree in finance. Mr. Daniel has been a coach for the Ravens football team for the past three years and also has coached youth basketball, softball and soccer.
   Mr. Daniel said Saturday that he supports the proposed school budget. He said he’s running for office to help the community that so generously helped him and his two children when his wife was killed in a traffic accident three years ago.
   ”I’m a widower, and this community was so supportive when I lost my wife, that I just want to do something now to give back to the community,” he said.
   Ms. DeVito, of Charlene Court, is seeking her second term on the Board of Education. As the chairperson of the board’s Community Relations Committee, Ms. DeVito says she places a high priority on fiscal transparency and maintaining open communication with residents. She said that as a board member she is committed to providing children with “a sound education at the lowest possible cost.”
   Ms. DeVito also is a trustee of the Robbinsville Education Foundation, a nonprofit that works to raise funds to support projects that benefit students in township schools, including grants for books, materials, speakers or technology that are not otherwise covered by the school budget. The foundation also has made major contributions to big-ticket items, such as the football stadium lights.
   Mr. O’Grady, of Hillside Drive, works in municipal finance for an investment-banking firm, and is the current vice president of the school board. First appointed to the school board in 2007 to fill a vacancy, he won re-election to a full term in 2008 and now is seeking a second term.
   Mr. O’Grady, the father of two kindergartners in Sharon School, said he is running for re-election to complete some of the initiatives the board has begun that will improve fiscal efficiency. He said he also is working to develop new revenue strategies to fund projects instead of relying solely on tax dollars.
   Mr. Thackston, of Windward Way, is an attorney making his first run for elected office. The father of three elementary school students, he said Sunday he had not yet made a decision on whether to vote for the school budget. Mr. Thackston said he was running for school board in order to “make a contribution.”
   ”I think it’s a good idea to have some turnover on local school boards so that you get fresh ideas and new thoughts on the issues,” Mr. Thackston said.
   Polling places next week differ from where many residents normally vote because the township’s nine voting districts are collapsed into five locations for school elections. An alphabetical list of street addresses with the assigned polling place is online at www.robbinsville-twp.org/Street_List_School.pdf.
Upper Freehold Regional school budget
   The UFRSD is proposing an $18.4 million tax levy in a $33 million general fund budget. In order to stay within the 2 percent cap on tax levy increases, the district will lay off 19 employees, outsource busing to private contractors, and raise various school-related fees that parents pay.
   The budget would raise the school tax rate 2.6 cents in Allentown and 2.65 cents in Upper Freehold. Debt service from school construction, which is outside the 2 percent levy cap and not subject to voter approval on Wednesday because it was authorized in a previous referendum, adds 3 cents to the tax rate increase in Allentown and 3.1 cents in Upper Freehold.
   In Upper Freehold, a resident who owns a house assessed at the new townshipwide average of $446,215 would pay $255 more a year in school taxes if voters approve the budget. The general fund portion of the tax increase is $118 of that total and the remainder is the debt service.
   In Allentown, residents who live in a house assessed at the new boroughwide average of $294,000 would pay a total $164 more per year in school taxes if the budget is approved by voters. The general fund levy increase represents $76 of that amount and the remainder is the debt service increase.
   The tax impact differs in the two communities because of the state equalization formula used in regional school districts, which takes into account population and the total value of properties in each municipality. The formula sets Allentown’s share at 14 percent of the tax levy and Upper Freehold’s at 86 percent.
   The budget also requires an increase in some of the fees that parents pay. Subscription busing fees charged to families who live too close to school to qualify for free busing will increase $25 per student to $300 a year. The $500 family maximum will be abolished, and parents will be asked to pay $300 per child regardless of the number of children in the family.
   The extended-day kindergarten program is being increased $900 a year to $3,900 per child. Annual student activity fees ($160 for high school students and $60 for middle school students), however, would remain the same next year.
Upper Freehold candidates
   The race for the two Upper Freehold seats on the 10-member board of education is uncontested.
   Incumbent Chris Shaw, of Yorkville Terrace, is seeking re-election to a full three-year term. Mr. Shaw is vice president of Deutsche Bank and has served on the school board since 2005.
   Patrick Nolan, of Dutchess Drive, is seeking the seat held by Joe Stampe, who decided not to run again. Mr. Nolan, a regular attendee of school board meetings, works for BlackRock Asset Management and has three children in UFRSD schools. He said he is running to continue the academic progress the district has made over the past five years.
   ”We are now a community that prepares kids for college in the 21st century,” Mr. Nolan said Friday. “We weren’t always in that position and we need to fight to stay there.”
Allentown candidates
   There are two seats representing Allentown that are up for grabs as well, but only one of those races is contested.
   Gregg Barkley, of Probasco Drive, is a professional engineer who has no opponent for a seat with a full three-year term. Mr. Barkley was first elected to a one-year unexpired term in 2010.
   Eileen Heddy, of Sandburg Drive, was appointed to the school board last year to fill a vacancy and now is running for a one-year unexpired term. Ms. Heddy is an instructor at The College of New Jersey.
   Challenging Ms. Heddy in the race for the one-year seat is her Sandburg Drive neighbor, Edward Tranosky, a computer network administrator at the state Department of Health. Mr. Tranosky previously worked for the UFRSD’s information technology office for 14 years.
   In Upper Freehold, residents who live in District 1 vote at the Municipal Building; Districts 2 and 4 vote at the Allentown First Aid Building; and District 3 votes at Hope Fire Company. Allentown residents in District 1 vote in the main lobby of Allentown High School and District 2 votes at the Methodist Church.
Millstone school budget
   The school budget before voters has a flat $26.37 million tax levy for 2011-2012, the same levy set by the state in 2010 after the district successfully appealed the Township Committee’s cuts to last year’s defeated school budget.
   The 2011-2012 budget, if approved, will enable the district to reduce class sizes by hiring one primary school teacher and one elementary school teacher; restore the art curriculum at the primary school; and a hire a guidance counselor for the middle school where the student-to-counselor ratio is currently 550-to-1.
   Even though the tax levy — the amount raised by taxation — is not increasing, residents will still be paying 7 percent more in school taxes than they paid in 2010 if the budget is approved. This works out to about $562 for the average home assessed at the municipal average of $511,000.
   The reason for the increase is the state’s favorable ruling on the school district’s budget appeal, which came in September after 2010 property tax bills already had been mailed out to residents. This forced to the district to take out a loan to fund its operating budget and await reimbursement when the following year’s tax collections came in.
   Therefore, in 2011, an average $277 in retroactive school taxes must be collected from residents. This $277 average tax increase will be collected even if residents vote down the school budget next week.
   If residents vote yes on the budget and maintain the same state-adjusted tax levy of $26.37 million ($960,683 more than overturned $25.41 million levy set by the Township Committee that is reflected in the 2010 tax bills), it would add an average $285 more to the property tax bills for 2011, for a total increase of $562.
   The average home’s assessed value has increased slightly from 2010 to 2011, which accounts for the $8 difference between the two tax years.
   Millstone voters have rejected school budgets for seven consecutive years, but district officials expressed optimism that the flat tax levy this year would break that tradition.
Millstone candidates
   There are four seats available on the Millstone Board of Education: three are for full three-year terms and one seat is for a one-year unexpired term. The only contested race is for the one-year unexpired term.
   Incumbent Kevin McGovern, of Schoolhouse Road, is being challenged by Neil Schloss, of North Robbins Road. Mr. McGovern, an attorney, was elected to the school board in 2007 and has served as its president since the former president, Tom Foley, suddenly resigned his seat on the school board last summer.
   Mr. McGovern has led the board through a tumultuous year that has included a successful appeal to the state Board of Education for the restoration of last year’s school budget cuts, the crafting of a new budget, a shared services agreement with UFRSD for the services of its assistant superintendent for curriculum, and the search for a new Millstone superintendent. The district announced Friday that it had concluded that search, but that it was withholding the name of the new superintendent until the April 26 board meeting.
   Mr. Schloss, a father of two, is a certified public accountant and owns a magic shop in Hightstown. He is active in youth recreational sports leagues and has coached baseball and wrestling. Mr. Schloss said Friday he had not yet decided how he would vote on the proposed school spending plan for 2011-2012, although he said he agreed with the goals of a flat tax levy and smaller class sizes.
   There is no contest for the other three seats on the Millstone school board, which are all for full three-year terms. Incumbents Salvatore Casale, of Timberline Court, and John Saxton, of Mountainview Court, are unopposed. No one filed to run for the third seat, which allows a write-in candidate to win it on Election Day.
Plumsted school budget
   Voters will be asked to approve a $9.7 million school tax levy that meets the new 2 percent cap on levy increases and will cost the average property owner about $46 more a year in school taxes.
   However, in order to stay within that 2 percent levy cap, the board has had to institute new activity fees for 2011-2012 that must be paid by parents whose sons and daughters participate in school sports or extracurricular clubs. The cost would be $25 for each club and $50 for each sport, band and the high school play. The maximum charge per student would be $100 for sports and $50 for clubs.
   The activity fees would raise $34,000 for the budget that would not affect the 2 percent cap because the money is not being raised through school taxes.
Plumsted candidates
   There are three candidates running in uncontested races for three seats on the Board of Education. Toni Drive resident Harry Miller, the school board president, and Fieldcrest Drive resident Sandra Soles, an elementary school teacher, are both running unopposed for full three-year terms. Barbara Wig, a learning disability consultant who lives on Bobbi’s Terrace, is running unopposed for an unexpired one-year term on the Board of Education.
Plumsted municipal budget waiver
   Plumsted residents also will be voting on a separate referendum Wednesday that has been placed on the ballot by the Township Committee, which is seeking authorization to exceed the 2 percent cap on its $3.1 municipal budget.
   The referendum question asks voters to increase the allowable tax levy — the total amount raised by taxation — by $97,311. This represents a 6.9 percent increase over the amount allowed by law, which means voter approval is required.
   Without the waiver, township officials say there will have to be cuts made to the Police Department. All line items in the budget were reduced this year except the police account in order not to compromise public safety.
   Overall, the total 2011 budget is $177,566 lower than the 2010 budget, but a $10 million decline in ratables, three years of state aid cuts between 2007 and 2010 that drained the surplus, and two expensive winter storms have put the township in a difficult financial situation this year, township officials say.
   The owner of a Plumsted home assessed at the townshipwide average of $378,400 now pays $416 a year in municipal taxes based on a tax rate of 11 cents per $100 in assessed value. The tax rate would rise to 12.9 cents — about $72 more for the same home — if the tax levy increase were to be kept at 2 percent without the waiver. If voters approve the waiver, the tax rate would increase to 13.8 cents, an additional $34 per year, for a total municipal tax bill of $522.