Council trims school budget

by $48K on $10.2 million tab

By Nida Khan

Staff Writer

JAMESBURG — After the defeat of the 2003-04 school budget at the hands of voters, borough officials made a token cut last week, trimming $48,000 from the $10.2 million tab.

Council members announced the reduction at Wednesday’s meeting, and noted the projected tax hike would be decreased by 2 cents. Now, instead of the 43-cent increase resulting from the $10.2 million budget, the increase will be 41 cents. Therefore, the budget will bring the tax rate to $2.63 per $100 of assessed valuation, instead of $2.65 — meaning school taxes would increase by $410 vs. $430 for the owner of property assessed at $100,000.

"I went through the budget with a fine-tooth comb," said Mayor Anthony LaMantia. "We have not been receiving the amount of state funding that we should, and this is by far the only solution."

After receiving notification of the amount of reduction, the Board of Edu­cation met last Thursday to decided ex­actly where the $48,000 in cuts would be made. Instead of eliminating more af­ter-school programs or employee posi­tions, the board decided to increase rev­enues through its Jamesburg Child Care Program, also known as the latchkey program. According to Board of Educa­tion President Donald Peterson, the pro­gram, which rents Jamesburg school space for its before- and after-school child care, will be charged a higher fee. The increased rental fees will total $48,000, he said.

"We truly appreciate everything the Borough Council did," Peterson said. "We are all accountable for the welfare of the children, and there was simply no other way."

Board member Frank Hand stood up at the council meeting and expressed his appreciation to everyone present.

"Thank you on your approach," he said. "It is an extremely difficult situa­tion for any district to be in, and the board is grateful for the assistance."

LaMantia said he and the council made several attempts to bring in added funding from the state, efforts which in­cluded meeting with the commissioner of education and many other state offi­cials. In addition, Councilman John Longo recently wrote personal letters to the commissioner in an effort to ease the district’s financial crisis.

"It’s pretty bad when the state can’t fund education the way they should," said LaMantia. "I wish residents would go to school meetings and see how hard it is, and what a tough job the Board of Education has. I urge everyone to attend these meetings, address different issues they have, and ask questions there. It’s a really demanding situation. About 97 percent, 98 percent of the budget is all mandated or contractual, so it means nothing really can be cut, other than taking away supplies, and you can’t take away supplies when you want to operate something."

When the budget was initially de­feated, Peterson cited voter apathy as a major problem. In an earlier statement he said, "I truly believe if more people got involved, the budget would not be voted down."

During the recent elections, only about 12 percent of Jamesburg’s voting population turned out to vote.

LaMantia said that because of a con­stricted time frame, the council and board had to act quickly in cutting the budget. The council’s resolution, includ­ing the $48,000 cut, was sent to the state at the end of last week.

Earlier this year, the district’s finan­cial situation forced the school board to cut several positions, including four teachers, a vice principal, a custodian and a secretary. School officials said the financial situation in the borough has been caused by several factors, which include increased costs for tuition, med­ical benefits, energy, instruction and stagnant levels of state aid.