School tax rates in Springfield and Chesterfield will increase this year if the proposed school budget introduced by the Northern Burlington Regional Board of Education is approved.
The $21 million proposed budget introduced Feb. 28 by the school board also would stabilize the school tax rate in North Hanover, and decrease taxes in Mansfield.
By:David Koch
Due to a $55 million increase in ratables, Mansfield residents would pay 3 cents less than last year in school taxes 70.9 cents per $100 of assessed property value.
The owner of a home assessed at the township average of $150,000 would pay about $1,063 in school taxes this year about $45 less than last year.
The school tax decrease would occur despite a $250,000 increase in Mansfield’s share of the budget’s $7.8 million tax levy, which is $2.95 million.
"None of the other three town’s ratables are going to go up because they’re not having any major houses or businesses coming in," said District Business Administrator Craig Wilkie.
Therefore, he said, none of the other three towns in Northern Burlington’s school district will see a decrease in their school tax rate.
North Hanover’s tax rate will stay at last year’s rate of 62.6 cents per $100 of assessed property value.
The owner of a home at the township average of $160,000 will pay $1,002 this year in school taxes.
Chesterfield residents will see their school taxes go up from 77.6 to 81.2 cents per $100 of assessed property.
A home assessed at the township average of $207,694 would be billed $1,686 in school taxes this year an increase of about $75.
Springfield’s school tax rate could increase by 8 cents to 82.1 cents per $100 of assessed value.
An owner of a home assessed at the township average at $150,000 would pay $1,232 in school taxes this year an increase of about $121.
A public hearing for the budget will be held on March 22 at 7:30 p.m. in the Northern Burlington High School library.
The public will vote on the school budget on April 17 from 2 to 9 p.m.
The proposed budget has an increase of about $800,000 from last year’s $20.7 million budget.
A total of $883,550 would be taken out of surplus for the budget this year.
Plus, an additional $33,000 may be requested by the board to make up a shortage in debt service aid.
The debt service aid this year was less than the school board anticipated, according to Mr. Wilkie.
A total of $725,000 was allocated in the budget for debt service aid, but the board only received about $693,458 from the state.
The largest increases in the budget came from rising transportation costs, additional bus routes, special education tuition costs, and surging energy costs according to Superintendent Dr. James Sarruda.
Additional costs stem from the need to hire four new language teachers, allowing every middle school student to take a foreign language.
"This year we’re going to be introducing a more comprehensive world language program in the middle school," said Dr. Sarruda.
The district also will be able to meet the state’s new requirement that every high school student take two years of a foreign language.
This year’s budget also allocates money for a girl’s lacrosse program in the middle school and high school.
Due to increased enrollment, there will be three new trailers added to house the surplus of students.
Two trailers will be added at the middle school, and one trailer at the high school.
Overall, there were no additional resources allocated for currently existing programs.
"There was a lot we went through to trim the budget," said Dr. Sarruda. "We’re trying to meet the needs of a growing community by not growing any programs."
