By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Township residents will go to the polls Tuesday to act on the Lawrence Township public school district’s proposed budget for 2012-13, and also to elect five school board members.
The six polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Voters will be asked to approve the proposed $58 million tax levy to support the proposed $67.1 million budget. The budget does not call for personnel layoffs.
The proposed spending plan carries a 3-cent increase in the school district tax rate from $2.33 per $100 of assessed value to $2.36.
This means the owner of a house in the Kingsbrook neighborhood, off Cold Soil Road, assessed at the neighborhood average of $346,870 would see an increase of $104 over the 2011-12 school district property tax bill of $8,082.
In the Pine Knoll/Pin Oak Drive neighborhood, off Princeton Pike near the Ben Franklin Elementary School, the owner of a house assessed at the neighborhood average of $212,252 would pay $64 more than the $4,945 school district property tax for 2011-12.
And in the Colonial Heights neighborhood, south of Whitehead Road and east of Brunswick Pike, the owner of a house assessed at the neighborhood average of $94,896 would see an increase of $28 over the 2011-12 school district property tax bill of $2,211.
School district officials emphasized that the 3-cent tax rate increase is due to a decline in the township’s ratables base. Successful property tax appeals reduced the ratables base, which is the value of all taxable real estate, by $38 million in the past year.
The $67.1 million budget represents a $2.3 million increase or 4 percent in spending over the current budget of $64.8 million. The increase includes $1 million in capital reserve and capital outlay. This is money that the district sets aside as a revenue source to cover debt payments and to pay for projects, such as replacing the heating and air conditioning system at Lawrence High School.
The increase in the tax levy to support the budget is $500,00 less than the allowable 2-percent increase in property taxes. The 2-percent cap would have allowed the district to increase the tax levy to $58.5 million, but the budget calls for a $58 million tax levy. This represents a 1.1-percent increase in the levy.
School district officials also said the district will receive $3.3 million in state aid, which is a $1 million increase over the current amount. However, this is still less than the $5 million in state aid that the district received in 2009-10.
Other sources of revenue, in addition to state aid and the property tax levy, are the fund balance (surplus) and miscellaneous revenue. The district plans to use $5.6 million in surplus funds as revenue for the 2012-13 budget.
Registered voters who live in general election districts 1, 4, 7, 15 and 20 vote at the Lawrenceville Fire House on Gordon Avenue.
Voters who live in general election districts 2, 5, 9 and 10 vote at the Slackwood Elementary School on Princeton Pike, and voters who lives in general election districts 3 and 6 vote at the Eldridge Park School on Lawn Park Avenue.
Those voters who live in general election districts 8, 12 and 16 cast their ballots at Lawrence High School. Voters in general election districts 11 and 14 vote at the Ben Franklin Elementary School. Both school are on Princeton Pike.
And registered voters who live in general election districts 13, 17, 18, 19 and 21 vote at the Lawrenceville Elementary School on Craven Lane.
