By Michael Benavides
Staff Writer
JACKSON — Residents who want to know how the Jackson School District Board of Education will spend $150 million during the the 2017-18 school year may pose their questions to the board during an April 25 public hearing.
The hearing will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the Fine Arts Center at Jackson Memorial High School, 101 Don Connor Blvd.
Board President Barbara Fiero, Vice President Scott Sargent and board members Thomas Colucci, Michael Hanlon and Michael Walsh voted to introduce the $150.17 million budget on March 21.
Fiero said board members had to make several difficult decisions in determining what to leave out of the budget.
“It was a very long and arduous process and there were not any cuts that were made lightly without a lot of thought and angst in doing it,” she said. “It is always a very personal decision when you cut something.”
The 2017-18 budget will be supported by the collection of $81.44 million in taxes from Jackson’s residential and commercial property owners. The district expects to receive $50.74 million in state aid.
District administrators project the 2017-18 school tax rate to be $1.30 per $100 of assessed valuation. The average home in Jackson is assessed at $326,489 and the owner of that home is projected to pay $4,243 in school taxes.
The 2016-17 budget totaled $148 million and was supported by a local tax levy of $79.27 million and $50.6 million in state aid. The school tax rate was $1.29, the average home was assessed at $325,748 and the owner of that home paid $4,201 in school taxes.
School taxes are one component of a property owner’s total tax bill. In addition to school taxes, property owners also pay Jackson municipal taxes, Ocean County taxes and other assessments.
Superintendent of Schools Stephen Genco said it was a challenging task for district administrators and the board to produce a budget for the 2017-18 school year.
“This year, getting to a number we could agree on for a tentative budget was not an easy thing,” Genco said. “One thing the business office has done well over the last couple of years was refinancing our debt and in doing so, when we look at the total tax picture, the taxpayer is not going to feel it all that much.”
The district’s debt payment will decrease from $8.82 million in 2016-17 to 8.51 million in 2017-18.
Genco said that in developing the budget, administrators reduced the number of capital improvement projects they wanted to undertake and certain initiatives in curriculum were scaled back.
“Ultimately, everything was tapped. Every school’s budget was cut by 10 percent. Every budget was exposed and when you look at it, next year’s budget has four less personnel in it. That is through attrition, we are not going to be cutting people,” he said.
“I am happy we got to the number. (In) years past, I was able to say our tentative budget allowed us to do the things we needed to do and then some. I do not feel this tentative budget does that.
“I believe we are getting close to what everybody has talked about being the fiscal cliff. We are teetering on it at this point.
“We are receiving about $1.2 million less in state aid than we did in 2009,” Genco said. “It is going to eventually hurt a district’s ability to do the things it needs to do and we are really starting to feel that.”