By Nick Norlen, Staff Writer
The Princeton Regional Board of Education has unanimously approved a 2008-2009 district operating budget of $72,694,856 that will impose a 3.32 percent tax increase — below the four percent cap, for the first time in years.
In all, district taxpayers will be asked to cover $56,965,650 of the budget. The spending plan was unanimously approved at the board’s Thursday meeting. No member of the public commented.
If the budget question on the ballot is approved by voters April 15, the tax levy would translate to a 1.03-cent tax rate decrease in the township and a 9.5-cent increase in the borough.
For an average township residence assessed at $431,207, the rate would result in a tax decrease of $45. In the borough, where average residences are assessed at $349,953, the rate would result in an average increase of $332.
Superintendent Judy Wilson stressed that the discrepancy in the rates between the two municipalities has “nothing to do with the budget that we just created,” but is rather due to changes in the value of homes over the past year, which affect the percentage share formula set by the Mercer County Board of Taxation Office.
Ms. Wilson also said she wanted to dispel the myth that borough is paying for all the increases in the school budget.
”Everyone is paying a share of the increase in the overall school budget,” she said, noting that the borough’s share represents 32.8 percent of the total levy — compared to 67.2 percent for the township. Last year’s ratio was 32 percent to 68 percent.
The district was able to keep the budget under cap — despite unavoidable increases such as pension costs and charter school contributions — through a number of “reductions and efficiencies,” Ms. Wilson said. Those include the elimination of seven positions, the freezing of most departmental budgets, the renegotiating of contracts, and the change or postponement of projects, including the renovation of the district’s Valley Road administration building, she said.
Board member Alan Hegedus praised what he said is a “tight” budget that is “responsive to difference constituencies.”
”I doubt that we could have found a better balance,” he said.
Also up for a vote April 15 are three Board of Education seats. At least two new faces will join the board due to the resignation of board President Michael Mostoller, of the borough, and board member Jeffrey Spear, of the township.
The two available seats in the township are being sought by incumbent Walter Bliss and candidates Daniel Haughton and Naomi Perlman. Candidate Timothy Quinn is running uncontested for the lone seat in the borough.
Polls will be open on April 15 from noon to 9 p.m.
