By Linda Seida, Staff Writer
WEST AMWELL — The final determination last week of how much to cut from South Hunterdon Regional High School’s defeated budget turns out to be not so final after all.
Lambertville and Stockton officials performed an about-face Friday night when they agreed to cut $117,190 from the nearly $10.1 million budget. That’s $17,190 more than they originally agreed to just days earlier.
The reversal brings their vote in line with West Amwell’s. The township’s governing body had asked for $117,190 from the start. The amount is equal to the 1.5-percent increase in the tax levy requested by the school.
The higher cut is good news for taxpayers. The budget will be flat, and taxpayers will face no increase.
With all the sending districts in agreement, the school district averted a potentially higher cut at the hands of county education officials. The budget would have gone to the county education superintendent if Lambertville, Stockton and West Amwell had failed to reach a consensus.
”South Hunterdon representatives requested that we take a vote, lining up with West Amwell and what they did,” Lambertville Mayor David Del Vecchio said.
Lambertville and Stockton officials met at the Union firehouse on North Main Street early Friday evening and took about 20 minutes to settle the issue.
West Amwell officials did not attend, in effect holding their ground on the higher amount the township had called for.
In subcommittee throughout the earlier deliberation process, Lambertville and Stockton initially had agreed with West Amwell. However, when it came time for the governing bodies to vote, supporters of the school showed up by the dozens to ask for a lower cut. They feared it would eat into programs, specifically the agriculture program and the Future Farmers of America activities.
The school’s superintendent, Nancy Gartenberg, has said the school has no plans to cut the agriculture program, although it may end up as a “less than full-time” offering. Student interest in the program has declined, she said.
Municipal officials remained adamant all along they do not advocate cutting any program. They have maintained the larger amount to be trimmed from the spending plan can be achieved through cuts in the administration.
Lambertville initially had approved the lesser cut 4-1 with Mayor Del Vecchio dissenting in support of the larger amount.
”I supported this initially, and I supported this last night,” the mayor said Saturday. “Hopefully, we won’t have to go through this next year.”
The budget defeat in April marked the fourth year in a row voters failed to support the school district’s spending plan.
”I think this vote recognizes that elections do matter,” Mayor Del Vecchio said. “With this vote, it’ll mean we’ll cut $801,000 from South Hunterdon in the past four years so we’ve been diligent about that.”
Following the budget’s defeat, the school identified specific areas where savings can be achieved, according to Marie Collins, who represents Lambertville on the school board. The cuts include $25,000 obtained from the salary difference between a retiring teacher and a replacement, $13,000 from renegotiated banking services and $12,000 from the elimination of a part-time maintenance position. Another $30,000 would come from finding another way to fund asbestos removal. The school must determine where to cut the remaining $37,190.
Monday, Ms. Collins said, “While it’s not considered a budgeting ‘best practice,’ at our administrators’ suggestion, we decided to use a small amount of surplus to offset the difference — there was nothing left to cut in the budget. A good administrator uses every means possible to avoid cutting valued programs.
”Also, we were concerned that cutting programs would negatively impact the school and the community’s opportunity to benefit from the School Choice program. The school had already received calls from concerned parents of School Choice applicants about the lack of community support they were reading about in the newspapers.”
South Hunterdon has been approved as a School Choice district, meaning it can accept students from other districts and receive funds from the state for doing so.
In a press release this spring, South pointed with pride to its “unique agriculture science program in partnership with Rutgers University.”
