By Frank Mustac, Contributor
A tentative $84,415,742 budget for the 2017-18 school year was introduced by the Hopewell Valley Regional Board of Education following a presentation by officials on Monday., If approved after a scheduled public hearing on Monday, April 24, local property taxes would pay for $76,452,806 of the total budget. The figure represents a 3.11 percent increase over last year., The state’s superintendent of Mercer County schools is now set to review the proposed budget document., The amount of property taxes, or tax levy, that pays for the general fund portion of the budget is $70,710,312, which is an increase of 1.9 percent from 2015-16 academic year., State law places a 2-percent cap on how much a school district’s tax levy for its general fund may be increased over the previous year., Superintendent of Schools Thomas Smith said that about 75 percent of the general fund budget is dedicated to salaries and benefits for staff, citing a more than two percent increase in those categories since last year., To keep the general fund tax levy increase under the state mandated cap, Smith said that costs in areas like transportation, operations and maintenance and technology had to be kept in check., “We’ve also had a number of requests that were not developed in this budget due to our need to stay within the two percent cap,” he said., Some of the bigger-ticket items that were asked for but are not included are an upgrade of the television studio to digital ($250,000) and a concession stand at Central High School ($250,000)., The debt service for 2017-18 is $6,091,589, the superintendent said. Local property taxes would pay for $5,742,494 of that amount., For property owners in Hopewell Borough, the tax rate for schools will stay the same as last year at $1.54 per $100 of assessed property value. In Pennington Borough, the tax rate for schools will also remain unchanged at $1.55., In Hopewell Township, however, the property tax rate for schools would increase by 3 cents, to $1.58., According to the superintendent, the proposed budget allows the school district to maintain all existing student programs and services., Maximum reductions in discretionary spending, he said, have been made over the past three years, which resulted in the lowest budget increase in the school district’s history. Last year’s 2015-16 general fund increased by only 0.8 percent compared to 2014-15., If further reductions in discretionary spending were to take place, it would have a negative impact on programming and facilities, Smith said., “The would mean increased class sizes, a reduction in our special/elective offerings and (cuts) in planned safety and security upgrades and technology improvements,” he said., Any further decreases in discretionary spending, he said, could also mean possible reductions in co-curricular activities, art and music, athletic programs and reductions in support staff and administration., “Any move to reduce this budget anymore would impact directly those positions, programs and activities,” the superintendent said., Speaking about current class sizes, Smith described them as “favorable when compared to some of our peer school districts in the area.”, Average kindergarten class sizes at Bear Tavern Elementary School are 20 students per class. At Hopewell Elementary, the average is 18.3. At Stony Brook Elementary it’s 21.3, and at Toll Gate Grammar School it’s 17.3., “We have a good healthy kindergarten enrollment as of today, and we will continue to watch that over the weeks and months to come,” he said. “With the class-size numbers, we looked to balance them the best we can across buildings and across grade levels, with a primary focus on kindergarten through second grade, making sure that they are the lowest class sizes compared to others.”, A full list of average class sizes from kindergarten through eighth grade is available as part of Smith’s slide presentation he delivered Monday, which is published on the school district website hvrsd.org.
