O.B. school budget adopted with $16 hike on avg. home

Board members debate inclusion of $1.3M for ball field project at Sandburg

BYADAM JOSEPH DRICI
Staff Writer

OLD BRIDGE — In at 7-1 vote, the Board of Education adopted a budget for the 2012-13 school year that will reduce the tax levy by over $1 million.

The budget as a whole is up 2.12 percent over the current school year, coming in at $142.8 million. Officials were able to bring down the tax levy in part because of an increase in state aid, which is rising $1.9 million to a total of $44.5 million. Officials noted that this amount is still $2.6 million lower than the $47.1 million the district received from the state for the 2008-09 school year.

The total tax levy of $85 million is over $1 million less than in 2011-12, but since the township has lost $2.2 million in its ratables, or taxable property, the school tax rate will increase by 1.1 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.

For the owner of a home assessed at the township average of $152,600, this will mean an annual increase of $16.62 in the school tax portion of the property tax bill.

“We’re going to have an operating budget where there’s no cuts, where we’re actually going to be able to increase the well-being of our district, and I’m excited about it,” said Board of Education President Eugene Donofrio.

“We’re heading in the right direction.”

Earlier this year, the board voted to take advantage of a new state law allowing school elections to be moved to November to coincide with the general election. Under the new law, school budgets that come in below the state-mandated 2 percent cap on tax levy increases do not need voter approval before being adopted. Also as a result of the election move, the district will save $40,000 on election costs, officials said .

Other savings in the budget include $631,764 in out-of-district tuition and an estimated $1.1 million reduction in health insurance contributions.

Highlights of the adopted budget include the expansion of the gifted and talented program for grades K-5, new science textbooks for middle school students, new Advanced Placement and math textbooks in the high school, and upgrades to the technology infrastructure at individual schools.

Also featured were capital projects calling for partial roof replacements at Old Bridge High School, Shepard Elementary School and Salk Middle School, as well as $1.3 million in renovations at the Sandburg Middle School baseball field.

Board member Frank Weber, the sole dissenter in the 7-1 vote on March 27, said the Sandburg ball field was a big factor in his decision to vote against next year’s budget.

“You have to strike a balance between myriad needs, and I don’t think that this board did,” said Weber.

Initially, the 2012-13 budget allocated $600,000 for the baseball field project, financing a combination dirt-and-turf resurfacing. When the district’s audit results were presented in December, Old Bridge was awarded an additional $1.3 million of 2011-12 state aid designated for tax relief in the 2012-13 budget. While the board did provide tax relief in the form of a $1,070,659 reduction to the tax levy, it also expanded the baseball field project, bumping the total cost up to $1.3 million.

Weber said he disagreed with the decision to increase capital spending rather than provide additional tax relief.

“In this economy and as hurting as many of our citizens are, we should have reduced the tax levy further,” he said, adding that it was the first time he ever voted against a school budget.

Defending the board’s decision, Donofrio said that the expanded project — which includes building a field hockey field, resurfacing the tennis courts and softball field, and upgrading the baseball field to qualify as a host site for state and county tournaments — was always the end goal.

“It was a very well-thought-out plan,” he said.

“We had every intention of building this type of baseball field in a possibly two- or three-phase project,” Donofrio said. Once the additional funds became available, it was possible to complete the whole project in one shot, he said.

In regard to tax relief, he pointed out that completing the project in one year will mean one less expense to include in future budgets.

“Let’s stop thinking small,” said Donofrio. “Let’s do this and let’s do this right.”

The school budget is one component of a homeowner’s property tax bill. Another component, the municipal tax, is proposed to increase by $33.57 on the average Old Bridge home in 2012.

Contact Adam Joseph Drici at [email protected].