N.B. school budget clipped by $2.35M
Property owners will see 25-cent hike to tax rate
BY JENNIFER AMATO
Staff Writer

A $2.35 million reduction to the school budget was approved by the North Brunswick Township Council Monday night.

The cuts, which stemmed mostly from the administrative area, are expected to reduce the original general fund tax levy of $62.45 million and decrease the 35-cent proposed tax increase by roughly 10 cents for the 2006-07 school year. As a result, the new proposed tax increase for every $100 of an average township home assessed at $156,000 is $400 instead of the original $532.

"I am pleased with the work and progress of both organizations to respond to the voters of the defeated school budget," Carlo Socio, councilman and budget subcommittee member, said. "All parties tried to find the right balance between our common goal of maintaining a superior educational program and the tax impact on local residents to provide the same. Some will say we did not cut enough, others will complain that we cut too much. I think, overall, we found balance in these recommendations."

The Board of Education's budget suffered a 3-1 defeat at the polls on April 18, but board members amicably agreed to the council's recommendations for cuts. Since the majority of the budget was allotted to opening and operating the 121,000-square-foot addition at the township high school, other areas needed to be re-evaluated to appease the residents who voiced their dissatisfaction with the high increase.

"As a district we face a major challenge: that challenge is maintaining a school district that meets the needs of this school district as well as maintaining the needs of the children as a whole," Board of Education President Anne Casey said. "At the end of the day we agreed to a budget which both parties could live with in order to maintain a quality education system."

Overall, Ralph Andrews, councilman and budget subcommittee member, said negotiations took at least 40 hours of discussion time between the board and the council, in addition to countless hours spent at home. Most of the residents who spoke during the open public hearing thanked the committees for their time and supported their decision to reduce the budget by such a large amount.

"Even though it doesn't look like much, this is the best budget I've ever seen cut by a council," resident Joyce Zimmerman said.

"I'm glad to see you listened to the public," fellow resident Alice Rodakis said. "This year, you kind of took the public into consideration, and I'm glad it doesn't really hurt the programs as much as it could have."

The budget will now return to the Board of Education, which can decide to follow the council's line item recommendations or not. Although they are not bound to cut those specific areas, they must stay within the monetary amount approved by the council.

Yet a larger issue is at hand with taxpayers being responsible for funding the school budget instead of receiving state assistance.

"The fundamental process for education in New Jersey is broken very badly and it needs to be fixed. Citizens need to let that be known to the people in Trenton. ... We need to reform the process," Andrews said.

"The school budget: this is a time bomb waiting to go off in this state, in this township," resident Mary Pinkham added.

Andrews therefore encouraged residents to write letters and make phone calls to legislators in hopes that the system will soon change and the burden of school monies will be relieved of residents.