CRANBURY: School board holds first budget meeting

Introduces spending plan with 1 percent increase

David Kilby, Managing Editor
   CRANBURY — Even though the Cranbury Board of Education chose to keep its election in April, it still had to shuffle around some dates to meet deadlines for submitting its budget to the county and having a public hearing.
   The public hearing on the budget will be March 27 at 7 p.m. The March 20 meeting has been cancelled.
   The board rescheduled its budget introduction meeting for Tuesday after learning the district had to submit its preliminary budget to the county before March 5. Thus, the board’s originally scheduled March 6 meeting would have been too late to introduce the budget.
   Also, the board planned to hold its public hearing on the budget March 20, but that fell outside the timeframe required by the state, March 22-29.
   The total proposed budget for the district for next year is $17,349,572 with a tax levy of $15,091,151.
   There is a 1 percent, or 5-cent, increase in property taxes from the school this year. The tax rate is $1.03 per $100 of assessed value. A house assessed at the township average of $605,000 would pay $6,231.50 in school taxes for the 2012-13 school year, about $301 more than this year if the budget is passed April 17.
   ”The board has been diligent on this budget from November forward,” said Joyce Picariello, school business administrator. “This wasn’t something put together at the last minute.”
   Dr. Susan Genco, chief school administrator, entering her first budget season with the district, said she was impressed by how many questions the board members asked throughout the budget adoption process.
   Lynne Schwarz, board president said, “I’m always proud of how every board member understands the budget, can talk about it and defend it if need be.”
   ”We can go up to 2 percent, but the board felt that was not something we should ask taxpayers to pass,” said Wendi Patella, head of the Finance Committee.
   She said administration hoped to fund new security cameras, phone system improvements, resurfacing of the gym floor and other projects, but chose to keep the tax levy down instead.
   ”Those items will be put on hold to keep the tax levy at 1 percent,” she said.
   The fact that the board kept its election in April this year is proof of its faith in voters, she added, because had the board moved the election to November, it wouldn’t need to put the budget up for a vote unless it went over the 2 percent cap.
   ”It’s a leap of faith on our part,” she said.
   ”The bottom line is we’re trying to do the right thing for students of the school while being good stewards of the taxpayers’ money,” said Michael Ferrante, board member.
   No staffing has been reduced, and no programs have been cut in the preliminary budget.
   The Cranbury School District tentatively will receive $451,202 in state aid for the 2012-13 school year, a 28 percent, or $98,685, increase from this school year’s $352,517.
   Last year at this time, Cranbury was given $176,258, then the amount was doubled. The board chose to defer the extra aid to this year, which is what makes the total aid $451,202.
   The aid will be used for transportation, security and special education since 176,258 was just deferred from last year.
   ”The aid we were entitled to last year was $352, 517,” Ms. Picariello said. “Any additional aid is welcome in Cranbury because we’re climbing out of that no state aid year (in 2010-11). Before state aid was taken away, we were getting about $850,000.”
   She said the district eliminated wrestling and softball the year it received no aid while also cutting supply accounts, reducing some staff to four days a week and eliminating the art program.
   This year, all staff was put back to full time, and the art program was reinstated.