School budgets fail in North and South Bruns.
Now town councils must decide by May 19 how much money to cut
BY JENNIFER AMATO & CHRIS MURINO Staff Writers
The school district budgets in both North and South Brunswick failed by fewer than 100 votes during elections on April 15.

In North Brunswick, the budget failed for the fourth year in a row, this year by about 50 votes. Only 11 percent of the registered voters in town voted on the 4.6-cent increase, which would have raised taxes by $72.65 per year on an average assessed home of $157,878, or about $6 per month.

"I'm disappointed that it failed. I think this Board of Education, with [Superintendent] Dr. [Brian] Zychowski, worked very hard to get this message out. I think it was very lean. I think the fact that we brought in an auditor to go line by line and get rid of line items that were not reasonable … there was not much more we could do," said board Vice President Neil Malvone, who is also the chairman of the Finance Committee.

The district originally wanted to fund a new high school engineering course, expand academic support, create an ROTC program, add an SAT review course, improve technology resources, fix the roofs at two schools, conduct site work at the high school, expand the summer academy, and add additional classroom teachers and nurses.

The increase was also going toward implementing a full-day kindergarten program in the fall, a promise made to voters if they approved a building referendum in 2006, which they did.

"We are not stopping the wonderful things we're doing, we're just not enhancing them," Zychowski said. "We have to connect to the community and see how they want us to serve them."

There were also mandated programs included in the budget which were out of the district's control, such as a full-day autistic program, three teachers of English as a second language, and a special-education behavior class.

Utilities and pension plans also comprise a large part of the budget.

Malvone said he believes the budget failed because of voter apathy, difficult economic times, an incomplete faith in the Board of Education and the public's "waitand see attitude."

"I don't think it was for a lack of effort and I don't think it was for a lack of presentation," he noted of the public presentations, televised meetings, PTAworkshops, newspaper articles and Web site information that were provided.

He also said the close gap shows that residents are not sending a clear message that they are unhappy, but it shows instead that "the message is apathy and the message is disinterest."

He said that despite this being the lowest increase in years, with the budgets carrying an increase of 8.1 cents last year, 24.3 cents in 2006 and 15 cents in both 2005 and 2004, the schools need to try and disseminate information to the parents better.

"People have the ability to say, 'We don't want taxes raised' and it is an important right to have…but the parents of students in the district should have outnumbered the voters who are concerned only with the increase in their taxes," Malvone said.

Zychowski said there needs to be more of a connection to the community, which is why a strategic planning process will begin next month, focusing on a long-rage plan for the future of the district.

"We do a lot of great things here, and we're very proud of the education we're providing.We are certainly not going to let this vote on taxes define us," the superintendent said. "We need people to realize they need to have an interest in their system; they can't take it for granted."

In the meantime, a council subcommittee of Ralph Andrews, Cathy Nicola and Carlo Socio will review the budget to see how much money can be cut, after which point the Board of Education will go line by line to choose which items must be eliminated. Zychowski said the administration will probably be targeted because "we are the farthest thing from the classroom," but Socio said it is too early to make a determination of how much the budget will be reduced.

"I think it is unfortunate that this is the way the times are going and the way past budgets have been. In the back of your mind you prepare [for a failure] … but we hoped it wasn't going to happen. But the economic situation dictates that everyone is on a tight budget, and we have to listen to those concerns," Socio said.

Also in the election, incumbent Connie Corbin retained her position, and newcomers Seema Moondra and Ram Tirumala replaced Mary Chyb and Jim Curran, who decided not to run for re-election.

Corbin said she is "surprised but very pleased" that voters remain confident in her. She said the budget will be everyone's first concern, especially since most people she spoke to were in favor of it, although the results proved otherwise.

Moondra said she felt one of her key successes was reaching out to the community, which she also hopes to continue during her term.

"A lot of people are not coming out to participate in this process, but school elections are very important and what we on the school board do is very important," she said.

Tirumala said he is happy with the results of the election and wants to "do my best within my limits to do whatever possible - first, to build confidence more in the community and also to see new ways of introducing the budget.

"I want to make sure there are ways of cutting down some of the expenses so North Brunswick residents would feel the board is paying attention to them," he said.

Arthur Lee Young was not elected to the board, but said that he "thought it was a good election, it was very challenging. I always say that it is God's will for the turnout, but I really enjoyed the experience. I look forward to doing it again - but this time, I'm looking for the win," he laughed.

Carlo DiLalla was not appointed to the board either, but said his concern lies more with the defeated budget.

"I would like to see the township, along with the school board, work with our seniors who are on a fixed income to come up with some type of solution, possibly a tax rebate or something, so they can also vote for these budgets and not worry about their cost of living," he said.

In South Brunswick, the school budget was defeated by a count of 1,244 to 1,163. According to business administrator Anthony Tonzini, there was only a 10 percent turnout as opposed to the 18 percent of voters who came out last year.

In addition, two incumbents and one newcomer were elected to the board. Matthew Speesler obtained the highest number of votes with 1,455 and board president Martin Abschutz was the third highest vote getter at 1,199. Newcomer Arthur Robinson was elected with the second highest total of votes, with 1,370. Edward Birch had 964 votes and incumbent Naushad Islam received 460 votes.

The board members were universally upset that the budget did not pass.

"The budget defeat was unexpected," Abschutz said. "Last year we had more than 1,800 yes votes. This year, when we were asking for less money (in total dollars) from taxpayers, we received less than 1,200 yes votes."

Speesler got a strange feeling after the election was completed.

"Being re-elected on a failed budget gives me a feeling of déjà vu," he said. "The first time I was elected I came in on a failed budget."

This year's budget featured a 5.8-cent increase per $100 assessed value. It was the lowest tax increase since 1999.

"I think for one thing there was more voter apathy this year than we have seen in other years, by the turnout," Speesler said of why the budget failed. "The yes votes did not come out. This may have been because the election fell on tax day and many voters were busy with their taxes. Statewide, we know that 74 percent of the school budgets did pass."

Tonzini said low turnout was the reason the budget failed, but he is not quite sure why the turnout was so low. Sports, the nice weather, tax day and too many other concerns were some other reasons brought up by Tonzini.

Speesler hopes the town council makes the right decisions.

"It is really up to the council on how they want to proceed," he said. "We will forward the budget book to them and backup information, and hopefully won't get hit too hard. We are ready for a cut. Whether they decide to do this at a public meeting or give us some direction in which to go remains to be seen. I do not have a sense at this point as to what direction the council prefers."

Neither doesMayor Frank Gambatese, but he prefers to meet with the board.

"I've made some notes in my budget book, on some things I have questions on," he said.

Township financial officer Joseph Monzo has also made notes and has questions for the board, said Gambatese.

The mayor was mostly surprised by the budget failing.

"In one sense, I was surprised when it was voted down," he said. "But it was thrown out that they received $4 million extra, and that was played up quite a bit in the papers."

He said it was possible people were upset that despite the increase in state aid, the tax rate was still increasing.

The mayor said he and the council will go over the budget to see what areas can be trimmed. He said the options are to leave it alone, make major cuts or add to it, although the latter is improbable.

The tax levy must be certified by May 19, according to the mayor.

The Board of Education held its reorganization meeting on Monday, where all three new board members were sworn in. Martin Abschutz will continue as president, whileMatthew Speesler was elected vice president, replacing Robert Long.