STOCKTON: Budget kept intact

By Linda Seida, Staff Writer
   STOCKTON — The Stockton Borough School’s budget has been reinstated intact by the Borough Council, despite a call from voters to cut the spending plan.
   The council agreed unanimously May 9 to keep the $649,709 tax levy as it was presented to voters.
   Voters last month failed to approve the historic school’s tax levy, 63-52. It was the second consecutive year the school’s budget failed to win voter approval.
   When a budget fails, the task of deciding how much to cut, or whether to cut at all, is given to the municipality’s governing body.
   The discussions between the council and the school board did not require a public meeting because there was no quorum of either body present. The meetings were held by subcommittee, according to Michele Hovan, borough administrator/clerk.
   Representatives from the council and the Board of Education met to review budget line items in the school’s spending plan, contractual and legal obligations and other pertinent financial information.
   Council members “determined the submitted budget met all legal and contractual obligations, did not contain unnecessary expenditures and did not exceed the 2-percent tax increase limit set by the state of New Jersey,” according to the resolution passed by the council in support of the school’s budget.
   Chief School Administrator Suzanne Ivans said, “Our board and school parents are very grateful that the Borough Council recognized the challenges that we face as well as the steps we’ve taken to keep our operating costs low. These include working closely with staff to negotiate responsible contracts, utilizing grants and shared services to keep costs down and supplementing the budget with revenue raised through community fundraisers and private tuition programs.”
   The school’s spending plan includes an extra $6,700 for Stockton’s four full-time teachers, based on a contract revision the board agreed to last June.
   A new three-year contract last spring provided teacher salary increases of 1 percent, 2 percent and 3 percent — a total of 6 percent over the life of the contract. However, a revision last June changed the increases to 2.1 percent, 3.1 percent and 4.1 percent — a total of 9.3 percent over three years.
   The district has said that without the revision, teachers this school year would have ended up with a salary cut because of the state-mandated 1.5-percent deduction for health benefits contributions.
   Based on property tax assessments provided by Ms. Hovan, the new budget will mean a tax increase of almost $25 for the average homeowner.
   If one were to use a formula recommended by the school district, the increase for the average homeowner will be about $41 more.
   The tax rate will be 68.35 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. The owner of a house assessed at the average of $373,504 will pay $2,552.90 in property taxes to support the school.
   Last year, when the average assessment was $375,964 and the tax rate was 67.25 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, the average homeowner paid $2,528.40. If one applies the two tax rates (the current 68.35 cents and last year’s 67.25 cents) to the same $373,504 assessment figure, the average property owner will pay $41 more to support the school in 2011-12.
   Last year, voters shot down a 4-percent increase in the tax levy. As a result, the council cut $5,700, bringing the increase down to 3 percent.
   Ms. Ivans indicated the district’s financial future would improve because of its participation in the state’s School Choice program.
   She said, “Stockton Borough School has recently been selected as a Choice School District, which allows us the opportunity to increase our future state funding through increased enrollment of students from outside the district. Our board believes that our unique setting and programs will attract a variety of students from surrounding communities. In times when many schools are cutting back programs such as world languages, we are looking to expand ours through private grant funding.
   ”With the support of our very active PTO and the Lambertville Area Educational Foundation, we intend to continue our French and Mandarin Chinese language programs while also adding Spanish in the fall. Our vision of an ‘international school’ reflects research that supports early language acquisition and also supports the vision of the New Jersey Interdistrict Public School Choice Program.
   ”We anticipate that this program will be win-win, generating revenue that will help offset the local tax burden in future budgets while also enabling us to provide our students with the skills they will need to compete in the global economy.”