BY MICHAEL ACKER
Staff Writer
The Sayreville Borough Council voted unanimously Monday to reduce the defeated school budget by nearly $750,000.
The move, which saves taxpayers an average of $44 annually, was made without having to cut school staff or programs, officials said.
The council began reviewing the budget last month after voters defeated the Board of Education’s $49 million budget along with a separate question, asking taxpayers to provide courtesy busing to students in the middle and high schools. The courtesy busing cannot be restored and will not be funded.
Board of Education members attended the council’s special meeting on Monday, and on Tuesday the board voted to approve the council’s $747,600 budget cut.
The reduction amounts to about 3 cents of the board’s proposed tax rate hike. While the original budget includes a $122 tax increase on the average borough home, that hike will be $78.
Part of the reduction will come from miscellaneous revenue in the amount of $62,600, which is not related to the budgeted fund balance, Borough Business Administrator Jeffry Bertrand told the Suburban. This money came from interest earned on investments from capital funds, he said.
Also, the board received a new grant from the state for “targeted at-risk” children expenses in the amount of $292,000, some of which will be used to achieve the cut, Bertrand said. The guidance on that grant is not complete yet, so the auditors recommended that the board put half of the amount toward tax relief and wait for guidance from the state on what programs could be funded with the remaining half.
Bertrand said that roughly $285,000 of the $393,000 the board received in revenue increases came from state extraordinary aid. The difference came from miscellaneous revenue that was realized after the board proposed the budget, he added.
Board President Michael Macagnone told the council Monday that the board and its administration have been working closely with borough officials and the auditor to find ways to reduce the budget.
“This is the only state that funds education on the backs of the homeowners,” Macagnone said.
“We have a very low tax rate,” he added, “the fourth lowest in the county.”
Bertrand agreed that the board’s 2007-08 school budget is “very tight.”
Superintendent of Schools Frank Alfano said the reductions will not affect any programs for students. Even the approximately $500,000 reading series for elementary school students will remain in the budget.
Bertrand said the board will fund the Wilson School repointing project over the next four or five years, rather than over the next two years as was proposed.
One of the issues that the governing body took into account, Bertrand said, was the ongoing high school renovations, which was estimated to be $122,465 overbudget at completion due to additional costs associated with firewalls that were left out of the original plan.
The governing body recommended that a school budget line item for furniture, originally a capital expense, be placed in the operational budget to give the board the flexibility of finishing the project with those funds, Bertrand said. The board had already spent $268,285 on loose furniture, Bertrand said, but the remaining $368,603 can be used to bring the project costs back into the positive.
Bertrand noted that copper and steel prices have greatly increased over time since voters approved the referendum for the high school project.
Council President Thomas Pollando said that the funds for furniture should be freed up for the board so that it can choose the best use for the money in order to see the project through to completion.
“Without this money, [the board] would not be able to complete this project,” Pollando said.