Budget cut will drop tax
hike from 15 to 13 cents
By kathy baratta
Staff Writer
HOWELL — When voters rejected the Board of Education’s proposed $48 million tax levy to support a $93 million budget for the 2003-04 school year, it fell to the Township Council to rework the numbers.
On May 19, the council voted 4-0 to recommend that the $48 million tax levy proposed by the board in April be reduced by $1 million.
Mayor Timothy Konopka and council members Peter Tobasco, Juan Malave and Joseph DiBella voted in favor of the reduction. Councilwoman Cynthia Schomaker was absent.
In dropping the tax levy to $47.1 million, the council lowered the projected K-8 school tax rate increase for the coming year from 15 cents per $100 of assessed valuation to 13 cents per $100.
The K-8 school district tax rate will rise from $1.66 to $1.79 per $100 of assessed valuation. That means the owner of a home assessed at $150,000 will pay $2,685 in school taxes in the coming year, up from $2,490 in 2002-03. With a 15-cent increase the amount paid would have been $2,715.
The owner of a home assessed at $200,000 will pay about $3,580 in school taxes in 2003-04, up from $3,320 in 2002-03. With a 15-cent increase the amount paid would have been $3,620.
The owner of a home assessed at $300,000 will pay about $5,370 in school taxes in 2003-04, up from $4,980 in 2002-03. With a 15-cent increase the amount paid would have been $5,430.
School taxes are one portion of a property owner’s tax bill. Other assessments on the tax bill are municipal taxes, Freehold Regional High School District taxes and Monmouth County taxes, among others.
Jeffrey Filiatreault, the township’s chief financial officer, and school board Vice President Valerie Rosenberg said it was their understanding the board would not appeal the council’s recommended cuts.
Rosenberg said school board members had been asked by their finance committee chairman Robert Antonaccio to make any recommendations they might have for the finance committee to review when that panel meets on June 2 to discuss the council’s recommended cuts.
The council said the $1 million to be cut from the tax levy should come from the following areas and provided the accompanying explanations:
• Salaries – media services, $73,800. It is felt that a new computer technician should not be hired this year. Media assistant positions are not necessary as there are two office assistants assigned to this task.
• Salaries – principals and assistant principals, $82,753. With the addition of two principals and the supervisory staff, the additional vice principal will not be needed.
• Salaries – operations and maintenance of plant, $40,000. One new tech will not be required due to the delay in opening the new middle school.
• Maintenance of schools – cleaning, repair and maintenance, $20,000. Reduce increase from 38 to 20 percent.
• Computer maintenance – maintenance service, $50,000. Reduce estimated cost of maintenance to reflect revised amounts.
• Energy – heat and electric, $63,453. Reduce estimates due to the delayed opening of the new middle school.
• General supplies – $100,000. Reduce estimates based on past expenditure history.
• Capital outlay – $571,994. Eliminate or use the Monmouth County Improvement Authority lease-purchase financing for the following: maintenance; district carpet/tile replacement; adaptive equipment; district instruction; parking lot security lights; computers; field repairs.