The most prominent item at Tuesday evening’s Bridgewater-Raritan School Board meeting at which about 12 people were in attendance, was a closing presentation on the 2009-2010 school budget. According to School Superintendent Michael Schilder, there is “substantially no change” to the preliminary number of $133.2 million. That figure will now appear on the April 21st school election ballot.
Schilder went on to explain that the extra $573,000 recently received from the state (in addition to the $12 million already allocated) has been applied to reduce the increase in school real estate taxes in Bridgewater and Raritan.
Bridgewater residents of a $450,000 home will see a $204.85 jump in the school portion of their tax bill. Raritan residents will see their school taxes jump $278.25 on a $350,000 home. Those amounts don’t include additional tax assessments for the municipal, county and other portions of your real estate bill.
Last year the school budget soaked up 64% of the entire real estate tab for Bridgewater home owners.
By the time you vote on the budget, the administration will have held 19 information sessions dubbed, “Community Presentations.” But, with the exception of required presentations at board meetings and others to the Raritan Borough Council and to the Bridgewater Township Council, all other meetings are on school grounds and directed at PTO groups.
None of these meetings has been widely publicized outside of the school community. This could easily create the impression to the general public that the B-R Board of Education and its Administration are lobbying special interest groups for passage of this $133.2 million budget.
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