Budget eliminates sports, activities
Passage of extra ballot question would keep programs in district
BY KATHY BARATTA
Staff Writer

The 2007-08 budget introduced by the Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District Board of Education cuts all interscholastic middle school sports and all after-school activities because "they can't fit in the budget," according to district Business Administrator Joseph Passiment.

The after-school activities include Odyssey of the Mind, science fairs, talent shows, school newspapers and all musical productions, according to information provided by the school district.

The 2007-08 budget will be placed before voters in the April 17 school election along with a second ballot question that if approved would result in an additional tax increase but restore all of those extra offerings.

Passiment said he could not yet provide a total amount to be included in the second ballot question.

Board President Anthony Manisero said the sports and after-school activities were removed from the proposed budget because "we had to look at cuts that would not directly affect the education of the children."

Manisero said the cuts in programming were brought about by a new state law which limits the amount of money a school district may raise in local property taxes.

"It means less money. All school boards [in New Jersey] are going to have to look at new ways to do their budget," he said.

The board introduced its tentative budget on Feb. 27. The budget is under review by the Monmouth County superintendent of schools, which is the local representative of the state Department of Education.

Passiment said the 2007-08 school budget totals $71.8 million, up about $2.5 million from the 2006-07 budget of $69.3 million.

The 2007-08 general fund is projected at $63.8 million and the general fund tax levy will be $43.9 million. The general fund tax levy is the amount of money residents will vote on in the main budget question on April 17.

In 2006-07 the general fund was $61 million and the general fund tax levy was $41.4 million.

The 2007-08 projected debt service (payment of outstanding loans) was introduced at $6.2 million, with $4.6 million of that amount to be raised by local property taxes. Residents do not vote on the debt service tax levy.

The 2006-07 debt service total was $6.2 million, of which $4.4 million was raised in local property taxes.

If the main budget question is approved in Englishtown, the K-8 school tax rate will increase by 8.8 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, from $1.789 to $1.877 per $100.

That means the owner of an Englishtown home assessed at $150,000 would pay $2,815 in local school taxes next year, an increase of $132 from the present school year. The owner of an Englishtown home assessed at $200,000 would pay $3,754 in local school taxes next year, an increase of $176.

Passiment said Englishtown's school tax rate would increase by an additional as yet undetermined amount if voters pass the second ballot question restoring sports and after-school programs.

The tax rate situation in Manalapan is more difficult to explain because all properties in Manalapan were reassessed this year. Passiment said he does not yet have a definite tax rate computed for Manalapan property owners.

The current K-8 school tax rate in Manalapan is $1.675 per $100 of assessed valuation. That means the owner of a home assessed at $200,000 paid about $3,350 in K-8 school taxes in 2006-07.

While the K-8 school tax rate will drop as a result of the revaluation, Passiment said there will be no way to know for sure until July what increase in actual property taxes paid there will be for Manalapan property owners.

July is when the final tax rates are struck for the year.

Passiment said he was going to have to "pull out his Ouija board and do the best I can" in order to have a projected figure to put forth for the public hearing and adoption of the school budget scheduled for March 27.

As in Englishtown, the school tax rate in Manalapan would increase by an additional as yet undetermined amount if voters pass the second ballot question restoring sports and after-school programs.

Passiment said although the district's total state aid package has increased from $19,551,099 in 2006-07 to $20,088,345 for 2007-08, the increase will be "eaten up" by higher benefits costs and the "general costs of doing business."