By Andrew Martins, Managing Editor
Homeowners in Hillsborough and Millstone could expect to see an increase in their school taxes, after Hillsborough School District officials outlined a tentative $128.3 million budget for the 2017-18 school year., The proposed budget marks a 3.93 percent increase, approximately $4.85 million, from the 2016-17 budget total of approximately $123.5 million., In order to support the proposed spending plan, approximately $93.8 million will be collected in taxes, marking a 3.69 percent increase from the previous year’s tax levy of $90.5 million., Superintendent Dr. Jorden Schiff explained that the increase in budgetary need compared to the previous year came from a number of areas, including expected increases in salary increases, healthcare costs and special education., “We are a service oriented industry and our investments are in our people,” Schiff said. “Our increases in salary and healthcare costs are something that you can expect in all school districts.”, As a result of the rising tax levy, the proposed tax rate in Hillsborough will go from $1.595 per $100 of assessed property value for the 2016-17 school year to $1.607 per $100 of assessed property value in the proposed school budget., If a household’s value was set at $400,000 for both years, a homeowner could expect to pay $6,380 in school taxes for the 2016-17 school year and $6,428 for the 2017-18 school year. The increase marks a $48 bump in year-to-year costs., For homeowners in Millstone who send their children to the Hillsborough Township School District, their tax levy could see an 3.9 percent increase of approximately $904,000 in the 2016-17 school year to more than $939,000 in the proposed 2017-18 budget., The tax rate in Millstone is also going up, from 1.689 per $100 of assessed value in 2016-17 to 1.750 per $100 of assessed value, or a 3.02 percent increase., If a home in Millstone is assessed at $320,000 for both years, a homeowner could expect to pay $5405 in the 2016-17 school year and $5,600 for the proposed 2017-18 school budget, marking an increase of approximately $195., Along with the increase in tax revenue, Schiff is also asking the board to consider taking the healthcare waiver, covering $880,249. The district also has over $807,000 in banked cap funds from previous budgets., According to the proposed budget, the district’s general fund would increase by $4.6 million, from $118.3 million in 2016-17 to $122.9 million in 2017-18, while the district’s grants and entitlements fund could tentatively see a 14.8 percent reduction from $1.99 million in 2016-17 to $1.7 million in the tentative 2017-18 budget., The budget also sees a nearly 17 percent increase to the district’s debt service, going from $3.175 million in 2016-17 to $3.7 million in the proposed 2017-18 budget., Schiff said the increase of the general fund deserved an “asterisk” next to the $3.89 percent increase, calling it an “artificial increase of the budget” since it reflects “pulling out money from the cap reserve and putting it into the general fund in order to pay for the debt that we have for the paving at the middle school, as well as the turf field.”, Schiff said the 2017-18 budget is aiming to fund a number of new additions and upgrades for the school district, including: new English language arts materials, supplies, curriculum writing and training; funding the replacement of Chromebooks in grades K-2; and funding the district’s American Sign Language program, which started this year., The superintendent also said the budget also allows the district to maintain class sizes and programs., In order to help the district manage costs, Schiff said the district utilized an Energy Savings Improvement Plan (ESIP), which caused “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in cost reductions due to the use of more efficient lighting and HVAC systems, which resulted in a rebate being paid out to the district., Schiff also said the district was able to maintain its costs due to continued employee contributions to their healthcare., “This year, we anticipate budgeting close to $4 million of employee healthcare contributions to healthcare costs,” Schiff said., The district is also expecting a five percent reduction in transportation costs due to the use of new routing software by the district., Changes in the collective bargaining agreement with the Hillsborough Education Association in relation to long-term substitute teachers were also touted as a way the district is managing its costs. Under the newly agreed terms, long-term substitute teachers will no longer be compensated at the same rate as newly hired teachers., Along with those cost saving measures, the district also generates approximately $200,000 in revenue through the district’s Children At Play (CAP) program, which helps to offset other costs in the budget., Just as in previous years, the district is receiving approximately $25 million in state aid for the next year., With state aid remaining largely flat over the last six years, Schiff said the annual budgetary process has become increasingly troublesome., “It is very difficult as costs continue to go up and not to have any additional revenues coming from the state,” Schiff said., In addition to adding positions in the current budget that will be “rolling up” into next year’s budget, which included one full-time and one part-time special education teachers, a part-time preschool teacher and seven instructional assistants, the proposed budget includes the addition of 4.5 new positions., Those positions, Schiff said, were one full-time and one part-time special education teachers and three new instructional assistances., Schiff said those additions were needed due to “either increased need and/or enrollment in the district.”, The budget does not, however, call for any reductions in current staff levels, Schiff said., A public hearing and final vote will be held during the May 8 board of education meeting.
