WEST-WINDSOR-PLAINSBORO: voters reject the school budget

By Allison Musante, Staff Writer
   WEST WINDSOR-PLAINSBORO — For the first time since 1999, the voters have struck down the school district budget.
   The 2011-2012 budget was defeated, 1,601 to 1,513, according to the results released Wednesday night.
   One of the incumbents will return to the Board of Education, joined by two out of the three challengers.
   Breaking down the budget votes, 992 West Windsor residents and 521 Plainsboro residents voted in favor, while 1,120 from West Windsor and 481 from Plainsboro voted against.
   From here, the budget will go to a joint meeting of the West Windsor Township Council and Plainsboro Township Committee, where the elected officials must decide on a dollar amount for the district to cut.
   ”If they can’t agree, the decision rests in the hands of the Executive County Superintendent in Mercer,” said district spokeswoman Gerri Hutner. “Once we have that number, we will reduce the budget by that amount. There is a timeframe for this process, which I do not have at this time.”
   She said that in 1999, the budget was defeated by only six votes.
   The proposed budget of $158.5 million represents about a 1.7 percent increase, or $2.7 million, in spending over last year’s budget. The ballot had asked voters to approve about $147 million to be raised through taxation, $60.9 million from Plainsboro and $86.1 million from West Windsor. The budget would have called for an overall tax hike of 2.5 percent.
   Board President Hemant Marathe said he was disappointed by the defeat and felt many voters did not understand the areas which are out of the board’s hands, such as this year’s declining property values and the state-mandated charter school allocation.
   ”Our spending is only up by 1.7 percent and 0.7 percent of that is the charter school spending, which we don’t control,” he said. “Last year, the spending increase was zero but people noticed their taxes went up by more than zero, and that’s because tax impact is multi-dimensional. So spending is really only up by one percent in the last two years, and if that’s still too much, I don’t know what to tell the taxpayers.”
   Dana Krug and the incumbent Richard Kaye were elected to fill the two West Windsor seats for three-year terms. Ms. Krug received the most votes at 1,440, followed by Mr. Kaye at 1,128, and the third challenger, Scott Powell, at 837.
   Rachelle Feldman Hurwitz defeated the incumbent Alapakkam Manikandan for the one Plainsboro seat for a three-year term. She received 506 votes to his 411 votes.
   Ms. Krug said she is thrilled to become a member of the school board and thanks all of her friends and neighbors for their support.
   ”April 27 is a very special day for my family,” she said. “Fourteen years ago today, I became a parent. Now, today, as a member of the school board, I become an advocate for all West Windsor and Plainsboro children. This is a great honor and privilege to serve West Windsor residents, especially the children.”
   Regarding the budget, she said she hopes further adjustments will have “a minimal effect on the classroom and other scholastic activities.”
   Mr. Kaye and Ms. Feldman Hurwitz did not return calls for comment by press time.