Four local school boards hold budget hearings tonight, Tuesday

By Ruth Luse, Managing Editor
   Three of the four local school boards will hold 2013-14 budget hearings today. They are:
   — South Hunterdon Regional High School Board of Education, 7 p.m., school commons.
   A tentative $11,131,238 budget was approved March 4, said Kerry Sevilis, district business administrator and board secretary. The budget was sent to the county superintendent of schools for approval.
   ”Once the county approves (the budget), it will be on our website,” said Ms. Sevilis. The website is: www.shrhs.org.
   The current 2012-13 budget — approved last April — totaled $10,752,762. As of April, estimated tax impacts for the three towns that use the regional high school were: Lambertville (pays a 53.42 percent share) — 63.85 cents per $100 of assessed property value; Stockton Borough (pays a 6.77 percent share) — 63.35 cents per $100 of assessed property value; and West Amwell Township (pays a 39.81 percent share) — 69.88 cents per $100 of assessed property value.
    — Lambertville Public School Board of Education, 7 p.m., at the school. The proposed 2013-14 budget totals $4,076,191. This proposal had not been OK’d by the county superintendent as of this writing. It will be on the website when it is, an official said.
   The current 2012-13 budget of $3,632,779 brought a tax rate of 46 cents per $100 of assessed property value.
    — Stockton Borough School Board of Education, 7 p.m., at the school.
   At a meeting on Feb. 28, the school board approved a preliminary budget for the 2013-14 school year. Board President Jim Gallagher said the proposed school budget “would maintain the same tax rate as the current school year. The proposed tax levy would be $636,715. The budget maintains all existing educational programs, and provides funds to continue Spanish-language and Mandarin Chinese programs that have been introduced over the past few years.”
    — West Amwell Township Elementary School Board of Education will hold its hearing at 7 p.m. on March 26, at the school. The proposed budget totals $4,238,667. This plan had not been OK’d by the county superintendent as of this writing. It will be on the website when it is, an official said.
   The current 2012-13 budget totaled $4,275,251 and brought a school tax rate of 81.7 cents per $100 of assessed property value, up 12.6 cents from the previous year.