Tax decrease proposed in boro's school budget
Jamesburg residents can expect to spend $48 less next year
BY SETH MANDEL
Staff Writer

JAMESBURG - In an unusual turn of events for a modern-day New Jersey school district, residents can expect their taxes go down if they pass the proposed school budget.

The budget for 2006-07 calls for a decrease of 4 cents in the school tax rate, saving homeowners an average of $48.

School Business Administrator Tom Reynolds said the district refinanced its debt on the elementary school, thereby reducing the budget by $52,000. Also, the budget will receive an additional $37,000 in federal aid.

Though Reynolds said the move will only ease the property tax burden for the next school year, it will nonetheless allow officials to provide some tax relief at a time when state aid remains flat from year to year and district-related costs are on the rise.

"It was just one of those things that fell at the right time for us," Reynolds said.

The budget of $10,870,619 carries a general fund tax levy of $6,420,859 and a debt service levy of $125,862.

That would bring the tax rate to $2.728, down from $2.767 per $100 of assessed valuation. The owner of a home assessed at the borough average of $123,000 would pay $3,355 next year on the school portion of their property tax bill instead of $3,403.

Board of Education President Don Peterson said that although state officials did not release local aid figures for next year until board members were well into the budgeting process, the board was told to expect last year's numbers to remain constant. That, he said, allowed the board to go forward with the budgeting process expecting not to have to cut any programs from the spending plan.

"We knew we'd be able to sustain all the programs we had if the state held our revenue neutral," Peterson said. "It's a lot easier than going through that and trying to decide where you're going to cut and dealing with the stress that goes along with that."

Peterson said that the tax decrease is encouraging, though officials do anticipate an increase in debt service next year, and state aid has remained flat for five years in a row.

"And you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out where that's heading," Peterson said. But, he noted, the decrease did not come from the removal of any academic programs, so students' education was not sacrificed for property tax relief.

"Obviously whenever you put together a budget, first and foremost you want to make sure that you're providing for the children," Peterson said. "In doing that, if you're able to also provide tax relief, it is extremely satisfying."

Reynolds said the district will again receive $3,658,172 in state aid, and that the only addition to the budget was a full-time fifth-grade teacher's salary.

Peterson said the fifth grade was the only district class not to have three sections. The class has grown, however, and will now be divided into three sections.

"The fifth-grade classes have gotten to the point now where they had two sections in the fifth grade, and the sections are getting a little bit too big to keep it two sections," Peterson said, adding that the average district class size is about 23 kids.

But all the programs added to last year's budget, Peterson said, will remain.

Last year, the district added an after-school activities program and the interscholastic middle school sports program, both of which had been excluded from the budget in recent years.

Combined, those programs cost $25,000.

A librarian and two other part-time positions were also added to last year's budget.

Peterson said the process was rewarding, and that residents seem to be supportive of the spending plan, on which they will vote April 18.

"Indications so far are that I believe there is going to be support for the budget," Peterson said. "I would be surprised if the budget got voted down when there's a tax decrease."

He added that there is a number of residents that often vote against the school budget, since it directly affects their property taxes and they cannot vote on the municipal budget.

"I would hope that people do step back and realize that we're providing a good education for the kids in town, realize that there is a 4-cent tax decrease, and I just hope they support it," Peterson said.