$77.2 Million School Budget Submitted for Approval

On March 29 at Wemrock Brook School, the Manalapan-Englishtown Board of Education formally adopted a $77.2 million school budget for 2011-2012. If approved by voters on April 27, the budget's tax levy will be raised to the 2 percent cap.

The 2011 budget represents a 0.60 percent increase from 2010, which amounts to $456,795. For the 2010-2011 budget, the tax levy amounted to $49.5 million. With the 2 percent increase, the tax levy for 2011-12 amounts to approximately $50.5 million.

The 2 percent tax increase of just over $991,000 is less than the $1.3 million that the Township Committee cut out of last year’s budget when it failed at the polls.

Superintendent John J. Marciante, Jr. insists that the district continues to work towards efficiency.

“The trend is down, we’re not increasing the budget significantly, and it reflects the efficiency that we’re trying to reach,” Marciante said.

Of the Board Members present, all voted in favor of the proposed budget following .

The successful vote included the support of Board Member Michele Stipelman who, earlier in the meeting, had introduced a motion to reduce the budget by $150,000. She said her request to spend under cap has “fallen on deaf hears”; none of her colleagues seconded her motion.

Stipelman may have gotten a second from Board Vice-President Joseph DePasquale, but he was absent for that portion of the meeting.

Board President Donna Formoso said that no one likes a tax increase but maintained that it is necessary when the district experienced a 16 percent loss in funding last year.

With the exception of DePasquale, the Board members have supported this budget and believe that voters will support it as well.  

“We used to squeeze a nickel out of a dime. Now they’re asking us to squeeze 50 cents out of a penny,” said Board Member James Mumolie, reflecting on the difficult economic climate. He reiterated his support of the proposal.

Superintendent Marciante announced two measures that he believes will add to overall efficiency. During his presentation to the public, he announced that Manalapan-Englishtown Middle School will drop “half community” meaning they will eliminate three regular teaching positions and one special education teacher position due to a drop in student enrollment.

Another money-saver is cluster bus stops for about 1,800 students. Combined, these initiatives stand to save the district $722,000 including benefits.

In Manalapan, the tax levy breaks down to $.909 per $100 of assessed value. For the average home in Manalapan, which costs approx $377,000, the tax assessment is a $37.70 increase.  In Englishtown, the budget is $.0863 per $100 of assessed value. For a typical home of $330,000, taxes will go up $171.60.

“I think it’s important for everyone in this town to remember the education that their children got and not to be shortsighted and to think millions of dollars in cuts today are okay because maybe my kid isn’t there anymore,” said Board Member Donna Formoso.

“That’s not a fair assumption,” called out resident Gloria Close, who argued against the tax levy throughout the meeting.

Earlier in the meeting, Business Administrator and Board Secretary Veronica Wolfe explained that the tax levy is a formula comprised of equalized valuation of both communities, the reported income tax wealth of both communities, and the number of students that each community sends to the district schools. In this fiscal year, Englishtown taxpayers are being hit hard, with a 5.2 cent increase per $100 assessed value.

“Unfortunately, it just caused everyone in town to bear a larger portion of the tax levy,” said Wolfe about Englishtown. “Again, hopefully next year at this point, it will swing to the other direction and give them some relief.”

Wolfe also explained that a larger portion of the levy is spread across Englishtown’s smaller tax based and can be attributed to a loss of assessed value in the community. Specifically, the loss of the Verizon property did not help the tax situation.

Meanwhile, it remains unclear of how the governing bodies of both Manalapan and Englishtown feel about the items outlined in this year’s school budget.

Deputy Mayor Ryan Green, a former member of the Board of Education, who was present but said he could not speak for the Township Committee when they’ve yet to discuss the school budget.

The Board of Education will present the budget to the Township Committee on April 13.

“At that point, the Township Committee members will have the option to comment if they’d like. But you know, we’ll see if they do it, so I’m not sure what the Township position is,” said Green.

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