By Peter Elacqua
Staff Writer
The Freehold Regional High School District Board of Education has adopted a $206.1 million budget for the 2016-17 school year.
According to district administrators, the budget, which was adopted on April 25, will be supported by the collection of a combined $132.3 million in taxes from residential and commercial property owners in the district’s eight sending municipalities.
Business Administrator Sean Boyce said nothing in the budget had changed from the time of the budget’s introduction on March 14 until the time of the spending plan’s adoption.
The district’s 2015-16 budget totaled $201.9 million and was supported by a tax levy of $129.73 million, according to district administrators.
The FRHSD will receive $52.88 million in state aid for 2016-17 after receiving $51.45 million in state aid for 2015-16. Administrators will use $11.65 million from surplus (savings) as revenue in the 2016-17 budget. The 2015-16 budget used $12.17 million from surplus as revenue.
The board has presented the tax rate for each of the eight sending municipalities for 2016-17, as well as the total amount of taxes that property owners in each municipality will pay in the upcoming year:
• Colts Neck property owners will pay $13.1 million for 2016-17, down from $13.5 million in 2015-16. The tax rate has decreased from 45.4 cents to 43.8 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. The average home assessment is $811,783 and that individual will pay $3,555 in FRHSD taxes.
• Englishtown property owners will pay $919,169 for 2016-17, up from $898,319 in 2015-16. The tax rate has increased from 37.45 cents to 38.21 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. The average home assessment is $299,716 and that individual will pay $1,145 in FRHSD taxes.
• Farmingdale property owners will pay $506,587 for 2016-17, up from $480,308 in 2015-16. The tax rate has increased from 31.09 cents to 32.89 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. The owner of a home assessed at $300,000 will pay $986 in FRHSD taxes.
• Freehold Borough property owners will pay $3.31 million for 2016-17, up from $3.06 million in 2015-16. The tax rate has increased from 29.77 cents to 32.09 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. The average home assessment is $247,410 and that individual will pay $793 in FRHSD taxes.
• Freehold Township property owners will pay $29.28 million for 2016-17, up from $26.93 million in 2015-16. The tax rate has increased from 45.69 cents to 48.45 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. The average home assessment is $380,000 and that individual will pay $1,841 in FRHSD taxes.
• Howell property owners will pay $27.54 million for 2016-17, down from $27.55 million in 2015-16. The tax rate has decreased from 44.8 cents to 43.2 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. The average home assessment is $318,169 and that individual will pay $1,374 in FRHSD taxes.
• Manalapan property owners will pay $26.06 million for 2016-17, up from $25.78 million in 2015-16. The tax rate has decreased from 42 cents to 41.3 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. The average home assessment is $408,142 and that individual will pay $1,685 in FRHSD taxes.
• Marlboro property owners will pay $31.52 million for 2016-17, down from $31.55 million in 2015-16. The tax rate has decreased from 44.5 cents to 43.9 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. The average home assessment is $494,873 and that individual will pay $2,172 in FRHSD taxes.
Boyce said the district’s enrollment for the 2015-16 school year is 11,136 students and he said administrators are anticipating a 1 percent decrease in enrollment for 2016-17, which is consistent with the past two years. The number of staff members will remain the same during the upcoming school year.
During the public hearing on the budget, one member of the public asked what determines how a municipality’s tax levy goes up or down.
Boyce said the total tax levy that is paid by property owners in each of the district’s sending municipalities depends on the value of all of the properties in that community, and the enrollment in the municipality’s K-8 schools, and the number of high school students the municipality sends to the FRHSD.
“Sometimes the public and even the board take for granted how difficult this process really is,” board President Heshy Moses said about the development of the district’s annual budget. “We have a top-notch business administrator and I would like to thank Mr. Boyce for the work he has done.”