When the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education met last night, it was in shock over having to explain to its audience at the John F. Kennedy School ways to deal out an additional $4.4 million in reductions necessitated by the last round of state aid cuts.
At issue was whether to swallow the entire amount while keeping the tax levy at its current state-mandated 4% cap, or to implement one or more options presented by Superintendent Michael Schilder.
The options are no panacea, and it’s important for residents to understand what they are, how they work, and what their implications are upon the Bridgewater-Raritan real estate tax levy:
1. The Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education can legally invoke an automatic waiver to offset state aid reductions. The cost would be built into the budget and would increase the tax levy beyond the present 4%. This requires no state or county approval and could be implemented next week by the B-R BOE to offset all or a portion of state aid cuts, if the board chose to. Voters would cast their yes or no vote for this in April. We’re talking potentially millions.
2. Place one or more spending proposals on the April 20th ballot to offset lost state aid. Such question(s) would be in addition to a base budget and would also increase the tax levy beyond the 4% state cap. However, in order for such a strategy to be a go, it needs approval from Somerset County Schools Superintendent, Trudy Doyle. We’re still talking potentially millions.
3. Employ a combination of the first two approaches.
4. Don’t alter the proposed budget. It already includes $8.8M in reductions. Lock in the school tax increase at 4%, the state cap. This means more expense reductions, a wage freeze or other cuts to cover the last round of state aid cuts.
The practical effect of implementing any of the first three options is clear: Bridgewater and Raritan residents would, in effect, be asked on April 20th to increase their own tax bills beyond 4% to pay for additional state-imposed cuts in aid.
Just before the public came to the mike last night, a straw poll of board members indicated that the 9-member body was equally split over how to proceed with these alternatives, with one board member expressing no opinion. A decision needs to be made next week.
Next Post: Simmering resentment over wage hikes.
Showing posts with label B-R BOE Finance Committee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label B-R BOE Finance Committee. Show all posts
Friday, March 19, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
B-R Schools to Incur Additional $4.4 Million Budget Hit
Today, Governor Christie’s administration announced the last round of cuts in state aid to New Jersey school districts for the 2010/2011 school year beginning July 1st, 2010. Consequently, the Bridgewater-Raritan School District was notified that it will incur another reduction in state aid of $4.4 million, on top of previous cuts.
Tonight, 8:00 PM, at the John F. Kennedy School in Raritan the B-R BOE and administration will present another pared-down version of the budget. None of the previous presentations to the public – the latest of which was on February 23rd – provide room for a reduction as steep as those necessitated by the State of New Jersey’s cuts announced today.
I expect a very large turnout of Bridgewater-Raritan residents and a big group of staff and union representation. The February 23rd meeting was standing-room only.
Jeffrey Brookner, President of the B-R BOE had sent letters previously asking all bargaining units, including those representing teachers, principals and supervisors to re-open contract negotiations. The purpose was to reduce or rescind the 4.35% pay raises included in the proposed 2010/2011 school budget now under stress. Total wage increases are reported to be worth $2.7 million.
To date, no information has been made public about the responses of those bargaining units to Mr. Brookner’s request. The only concessions made so far have been from a small group of non-bargaining administration officials to reduce their pay raises by 2%, or about $60,000 in total.
As of this writing, the impact on Bridgewater and Raritan real estate tax levies is uncertain. However, at the time of the latest budget draft on the 23rd, the combined tax levy for both municipalities was still going up by 4%, the maximum allowed by New Jersey law.
Tonight, 8:00 PM, at the John F. Kennedy School in Raritan the B-R BOE and administration will present another pared-down version of the budget. None of the previous presentations to the public – the latest of which was on February 23rd – provide room for a reduction as steep as those necessitated by the State of New Jersey’s cuts announced today.
I expect a very large turnout of Bridgewater-Raritan residents and a big group of staff and union representation. The February 23rd meeting was standing-room only.
Jeffrey Brookner, President of the B-R BOE had sent letters previously asking all bargaining units, including those representing teachers, principals and supervisors to re-open contract negotiations. The purpose was to reduce or rescind the 4.35% pay raises included in the proposed 2010/2011 school budget now under stress. Total wage increases are reported to be worth $2.7 million.
To date, no information has been made public about the responses of those bargaining units to Mr. Brookner’s request. The only concessions made so far have been from a small group of non-bargaining administration officials to reduce their pay raises by 2%, or about $60,000 in total.
As of this writing, the impact on Bridgewater and Raritan real estate tax levies is uncertain. However, at the time of the latest budget draft on the 23rd, the combined tax levy for both municipalities was still going up by 4%, the maximum allowed by New Jersey law.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Bridgewater-Raritan School Budget Arithmetic
Even with my background, I find that one of the hardest things to do is to try to absorb all of the intricacies of a school budget presentation. I find that to be especially true when my first exposure is to observe a 19-page PowerPoint pitch which summarizes the impact of a larger 59-page detailed budget handout.
I’m not complaining. The administration has done its best to present data in a very short period of time, one which of necessity does not permit the listener to ask questions as the presenter is speaking. Although there is a 5-minute opportunity to ask questions later in the open-to-the-public portion of the meeting, that’s hardly enough. Besides, the atmosphere in this school district at the moment is very much emotionally charged.
With that as a caveat, let me do my best to summarize my understanding of where the district finds itself financially, and what the impact is on your pocketbook.
In December, 2009, the B-R BOE voted to accept a preliminary budget of $136.9 million for the school year beginning July 1, 2010. As I mentioned in one of my prior blog posts, this number rarely changes and is usually presented to the public in the following April’s school election as is. Not this year. Enter Chris Christie as our new governor. He is determined to close a state budget gap.
Christie cancelled $4M of anticipated state aid to this district. (Ouch, that hurts!): A frenetic scramble began to lower expenses. In the first round of cuts on February 23rd, the B-R BOE sliced $2M from the budget by reducing expenses and by pulling back surplus funds that had been allocated to the 2011/2012 school year’s budget: Pouf! Gone, just like that.
Tuesday evening, at the JFK School in Raritan, the board announced a second round of $2.4M in cuts, resulting in a total reduction of $4.4M so far. This drops the current proposed budget expenditures to $132.5M, a 0.51% reduction (one-half of one percent) from last year’s actual school expenditures of $133.2M.
According to Michael Schilder and Peter Starrs this is the first time that there has been an expense reduction to total B-R school expenses since at least 1992/93.
You might think that an expense budget lower than last year’s would result in a reduction to your real estate bill in Bridgewater and Raritan. But hold on. Your taxes are still going up. The total tax levy is increasing from last year’s $113.4M assessment to $117.9M, a 4% increase, the maximum permitted under New Jersey law. This means that your tax rate per $100 of assessed value will go up by 5.2% to $1.22 if you live in Bridgewater; and, by 3.3% to $1.27 if you live in Raritan.
Why? State aid for Bridgewater-Raritan is $9.9M for 2010/2011, higher even than last year’s state aid distribution of $8.7M. However, according to numbers presented last night, the B-R BOE School District was banking on $12.3M in state aid, as it built the first draft of the 2010/2011 budget. Therefore, despite expense levels close to those of last year, it would take further cuts to offset wage increases and lost state aid.
Presumably, I haven’t bored you with numbers. Remember: every dollar of reductions in this budget has in some way affected a BR-BOE employee. Thanks for reading and remain engaged.
I’m not complaining. The administration has done its best to present data in a very short period of time, one which of necessity does not permit the listener to ask questions as the presenter is speaking. Although there is a 5-minute opportunity to ask questions later in the open-to-the-public portion of the meeting, that’s hardly enough. Besides, the atmosphere in this school district at the moment is very much emotionally charged.
With that as a caveat, let me do my best to summarize my understanding of where the district finds itself financially, and what the impact is on your pocketbook.
In December, 2009, the B-R BOE voted to accept a preliminary budget of $136.9 million for the school year beginning July 1, 2010. As I mentioned in one of my prior blog posts, this number rarely changes and is usually presented to the public in the following April’s school election as is. Not this year. Enter Chris Christie as our new governor. He is determined to close a state budget gap.
Christie cancelled $4M of anticipated state aid to this district. (Ouch, that hurts!): A frenetic scramble began to lower expenses. In the first round of cuts on February 23rd, the B-R BOE sliced $2M from the budget by reducing expenses and by pulling back surplus funds that had been allocated to the 2011/2012 school year’s budget: Pouf! Gone, just like that.
Tuesday evening, at the JFK School in Raritan, the board announced a second round of $2.4M in cuts, resulting in a total reduction of $4.4M so far. This drops the current proposed budget expenditures to $132.5M, a 0.51% reduction (one-half of one percent) from last year’s actual school expenditures of $133.2M.
According to Michael Schilder and Peter Starrs this is the first time that there has been an expense reduction to total B-R school expenses since at least 1992/93.
You might think that an expense budget lower than last year’s would result in a reduction to your real estate bill in Bridgewater and Raritan. But hold on. Your taxes are still going up. The total tax levy is increasing from last year’s $113.4M assessment to $117.9M, a 4% increase, the maximum permitted under New Jersey law. This means that your tax rate per $100 of assessed value will go up by 5.2% to $1.22 if you live in Bridgewater; and, by 3.3% to $1.27 if you live in Raritan.
Why? State aid for Bridgewater-Raritan is $9.9M for 2010/2011, higher even than last year’s state aid distribution of $8.7M. However, according to numbers presented last night, the B-R BOE School District was banking on $12.3M in state aid, as it built the first draft of the 2010/2011 budget. Therefore, despite expense levels close to those of last year, it would take further cuts to offset wage increases and lost state aid.
Presumably, I haven’t bored you with numbers. Remember: every dollar of reductions in this budget has in some way affected a BR-BOE employee. Thanks for reading and remain engaged.
Monday, March 8, 2010
The Contrast in Two Local School Districts
The newspaper excerpts in this post, the first concerning the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education, and the second about the Franklin Township Board of Education present two very stark approaches to public access in the current school budget discussions.
The issue in question is the extent to which the public should or should not be able to sit in and listen to deliberations of board members concerning the very real problem of trimming down the school budget for the next school year. Bridgewater-Raritan chose one approach. Franklin Township chose another, very different one.
At the beginning of March, Kara Richardson reported in the Courier News that the B-R BOE’s “Finance Committee will meet in a closed session (emphasis mine) today (Tuesday) to discuss how to shave another $2.4 million from the budget.”
That committee, which consists of three board members, is chaired by Lynne Hurley and includes Pat Breslin and Anda Cytroen; with Al Smith as the alternate should one of the others not be able to make a meeting.
Bridgewater-Raritan School Superintendent Michael Schilder and Peter Starrs, School Business Administrator/Board Secretary are usually expected to participate at such committee meetings.
In contrast, the Franklin Township Board of Education chose to take a completely open approach to discussing its cuts totaling about $7 million:
Today in the Courier News print edition, Mary Ann Bourbeau reported that Shirley Pietrucha, President of the Franklin Board of Education said “The board’s finance committee has expanded to the board as a whole, so all of the board members will be present at the budget workshop. As a result, the workshop will open to the public, (emphasis mine) but public comment only will be permitted during the first 30 minutes.”
Good for you, Franklin Township.
I’ve always been a strong proponent of having as many committee meetings and full board meetings as possible open to the public. Usually, though, boards of education tend to interpret New Jersey’s Sunshine Law (the Open Public Meetings Act) in a far too restrictive manner, thereby shutting out the public from the scope and content of its deliberations.
The issue in question is the extent to which the public should or should not be able to sit in and listen to deliberations of board members concerning the very real problem of trimming down the school budget for the next school year. Bridgewater-Raritan chose one approach. Franklin Township chose another, very different one.
At the beginning of March, Kara Richardson reported in the Courier News that the B-R BOE’s “Finance Committee will meet in a closed session (emphasis mine) today (Tuesday) to discuss how to shave another $2.4 million from the budget.”
That committee, which consists of three board members, is chaired by Lynne Hurley and includes Pat Breslin and Anda Cytroen; with Al Smith as the alternate should one of the others not be able to make a meeting.
Bridgewater-Raritan School Superintendent Michael Schilder and Peter Starrs, School Business Administrator/Board Secretary are usually expected to participate at such committee meetings.
In contrast, the Franklin Township Board of Education chose to take a completely open approach to discussing its cuts totaling about $7 million:
Today in the Courier News print edition, Mary Ann Bourbeau reported that Shirley Pietrucha, President of the Franklin Board of Education said “The board’s finance committee has expanded to the board as a whole, so all of the board members will be present at the budget workshop. As a result, the workshop will open to the public, (emphasis mine) but public comment only will be permitted during the first 30 minutes.”
Good for you, Franklin Township.
I’ve always been a strong proponent of having as many committee meetings and full board meetings as possible open to the public. Usually, though, boards of education tend to interpret New Jersey’s Sunshine Law (the Open Public Meetings Act) in a far too restrictive manner, thereby shutting out the public from the scope and content of its deliberations.
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