County to decide fate of Bordentown Regional school budget

By Amber Cox
   Bordentown City and Bordentown Township both agreed to leave the school budget intact, even after it was defeated at the polls. However, the Fieldsboro Council unanimously voted to cut $260,875 from the budget.
   The budget is now in the hands of the county superintendent and the state which will decide whether to leave it intact or to cut it.
   The Bordentown City Commission voted to keep the budget intact at the special budget meeting on May 12. Mayor James Lynch and Commissioner Zigmont Targonski both voted for the resolution. Deputy Mayor Heather Cheesman was not present.
   The Bordentown Township Committee voted to keep the budget intact 3-1 on May 18. Deputy Mayor Karl Feltes could not participate in the discussion on the school budget because he is employed by the New Jersey State Department of Education’s Office of Fiscal Accountability and Compliance.
   ”The recommendation with the city, Fieldsboro didn’t attend the meeting (May 12), was after reviewing the school budget, looking at their items, looking at where they’re spending money, where they cut money to get under the cap level.. It was recommended that the school budget remains intact where it currently exists today and it’s a recommendation that I can support,” township Mayor Michael Dauber said. “But, I’m one member of the Township Committee.”
   Township Committeeman Jason Medina also agreed with Mayor Dauber’s position and said that at the “end of the day I must do what I believe it in the best interest of this community, and that is to support to school budget as is without recommending further reductions.”
   ”To me, for anyone to say that the school is not focused or committed to providing the best level of educational programs and services to our students, I think that doesn’t hold any merit whatsoever,” he said. “I will be supporting Mayor Dauber’s recommendation to approve the budget without any reductions.”
   Township Committeewoman Anita DiMattia was also in favor of the proposed school budget.
   ”I understand that it’s a difficult year, not only for the school board members but also for the Township Committee members,” she said. “It is very hard to keep within the 2 percent cap that he (Gov. Chris Christie) imposed on the schools as well as the municipalities and overall I’m glad to see that most things were kept intact for the children.”
   However, township Committeeman Bruce Hill said he would have to be the lone dissenting  vote.
   ”First of all, I want everyone to know that I have nothing against the teachers of the staff in the Bordentown Regional School District,” he said. “However, the voters spoke. They spoke, 1,023 to defeat the school budget. For me to sit of here and go against what my constituents elected me to do is appalling. I will not go against what the voters did. Do I like what they did? No, but I have to live by it.”
   Mr. Hill said the only person he could commend was Superintendent Constance Bauer.
   ”Dr. Bauer took a freeze in her salary,” he said. “Well, Dr. Bauer must get the message, ‘you know what, we’re in serious crisis here,’ and if the teachers really cared about their kids they would do what they need to do to take care of the children.”
   Mr. Hill urged the staff to open up their contracts and take pay freezes.
   ”How dare the teachers come here and say they want raises when we have people losing their jobs,” he said. “I don’t want to see anybody lose their jobs, but if you (the teachers) really cared about the students then why don’t you open your contract up and say, ‘you know what we want to work with the schools, we want to keep our jobs.’”
   Mr. Hill said he is not happy about any of the budget this year but he has a job to do as an elected official.
   ”I’m not asking for much, I’m asking for you to hear what the taxpayers said,” he said. “They voted no.”
   City Mayor James Lynch said Tuesday he will follow the rest of the budget process thoroughly and wants to make sure that no cuts are made. He also put in a call to the county superintendent to discuss the budget with her.