Boro reduces tax hike after a bit of nip/tuck
Superintendent says some programs are unsafe due to boro's cuts
BY SETH MANDEL
Staff Writer

MILLTOWN - Borough and school officials have agreed to take 1.5 cents off the school tax rate hike.

The decision came after the Borough Council and Board of Education met to discuss cutting expenses from the $12.4 million budget, which was voted down by residents in April by a margin of only 61 votes. The proposed budget carried a tax rate increase of 20.5 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, which meant the owner of a home assessed at the borough average of $165,000 would have paid $339 more in school taxes next year.

The defeated budget was reviewed by the council and the borough's chief financial officer and auditor before the council made its decision to make cuts. The council last week presented the school board with its plan to cut $70,000 from the budget, thus reducing the tax rate increase by about 1.5 cents, according to school Business Administrator Richard Guarini.

The cut will take about $25.15 off the average home increase; that person will now pay $314 more in school taxes next year.

Superintendent of Schools Linda Madison said $11,000 in benefits was cut for a new teacher who will replace a fourth-grade instructor. The $11,000 was cut from a $50,000 line item for the teacher's salary, which included benefits. Madison said the council felt that funding for the benefits could be taken from another section of the budget.

"We're going to move money around, and something else will go in order to be able to pay the benefits for that full-time job," Madison said.

But Council President Kevin Bosworth, who is the council's finance commissioner, said the budget contained a line item setting aside money for all the teachers' benefits, and that the $11,000 was a redundant appropriation.

Another $11,000 was cut from a part-time custodial position, and $5,000 was cut from a line item for custodial supplies. Officials were told that the part-time position was not filled, and that the schools have nine custodians for two schools - enough to cover the district's needs without this line item, Bosworth said.

"Their big thing is that they need extra workers in the summer so that they can clean the school and the classrooms and everything, and we didn't touch those," Bosworth said.

Madison said that officials got a better deal for the district's health benefits after appropriating the money for that line item. That will save taxpayers about $17,000, she said.

The district will also receive a special education grant of $26,000. When those funds come in, the money will be put back into surplus.

There was one recent, unanticipated cost, however, that Madison said the district will have to budget for as well. A student was just classified as being in need of special education. Between that student's tuition, at about $66,000, and transportation, the student will cost the district more than $70,000.

Madison said that instead of putting the council's suggested budget cuts back in the budget, officials asked the council to let the $70,000 be used for the new special education student.

"We could have used some of these things that they identified to offset that unanticipated bill," Madison said, adding that the council chose not to allow that move. "So there will be some impact on students. Maybe in order to pay that other bill, we may have to lose courtesy busing or we may have to cut back a bit on student activities."

Bosworth said the impact on this year's budget will be about $18,000, and the rest will be budgeted for next year.

Additionally, Bosworth said district officials tend to underestimate their surplus, often ending up with at least twice what they expected in the cap bank.

"So we anticipate that this year's budget, in keeping with past budgets, will be conservatively estimated with what their surplus is going to be at the end of this year," Bosworth said. "We think there will be enough money to cover those cuts, easily, and pay for the student and the repairs that they want to make to the school."

The school board voted to accept the changes, but Madison said the district is still in a difficult position regarding the special education student.

"We accepted those cuts to the budget, but that doesn't mean that all our programs are safe, because we still have to pay the state-mandated cost," Madison said.

Instead of arguing over the council's position on the surplus, Madison said the two sides must work together, not just for this budget, but for future projects that would benefit the students.

"I want the public to know that we have to continue to maintain a positive relationship with the Town Council," Madison said. "We both are responsible to the public, and we have to maintain a positive outlook because we have a referendum coming up that we're going to have to work in conjunction to be successful in that."

Bosworth said the school board did a good job with this budget, and that there was, as district officials had claimed from the start, very little room for cuts.

But, he said, the tax increases add up over time, and officials must try to lessen the impact on taxpayers whenever they can without hurting the education of the students.

"You've got to try to nip and tuck where you can these days, and we did what we thought was right," Bosworth said. "We felt that we could take those moneys out without really affecting any of the programs or the students."