Howell council has task to review school budget
BY TOYNETT HALL
Staff Writer

HOWELL - The Howell Board of Education's budget for the 2007-08 school year is now in the hands of the Township Council.

On April 17, voters rejected a general fund tax levy of $61.4 million to support the board's $108.6 million budget for the 2007-08 school year. The vote was 2,050 no votes to 1,800 yes votes.

According to the New Jersey School Boards Association, if voters reject either a base budget or an additional spending question to exceed the base budget, the proposal is sent to the municipal governing body for review. The municipality can leave the budget intact, or make cuts.

The NJSBA said that under certain circumstances, a school board may appeal a municipality's cuts to the school district's base budget if the cuts would undermine the school district's financial stability, or if the cuts would prevent the school district from meeting state standards for a thorough education.

There were two budget appeals to the state last year, and there were three in 2005, according to information provided by the New Jersey School Boards Association.

At the same time that voters rejected the tax levy, they re-elected three members of the school board who ran unopposed. Patricia Blood, 2,473 votes, Elizabeth O'Connell, 2,346 voters, and Mary Cerretani, 2,314 votes, will continue to serve on the board.

According to Superintendent of Schools Enid Golden, "The primary reason why the budget was voted down is because people are fed up with high property taxes. It was complicated this year with the reassessment and folks did not understand the impact of the reassessment. Many were fearful that it would negatively impact their property taxes."

Golden was referring to a revaluation of all properties in Howell which was completed this year and will be reflected on the tax bills that property owners receive this summer.

Cerretani, the board president, said voting on the school budget is the only voice taxpayers have on their taxes. New Jersey residents do not vote on municipal, county or state budgets.

"No one wants their taxes to go up despite the benefits" of a good education, Cerretani said.

While the K-8 school tax rate was projected to drop from $2.12 to 98.8 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, some Howell taxpayers would have seen an increase in their K-8 school tax bill. The tax rate dropped due to the fact that all Howell properties were revalued in the past year.

Last year a home assessed at $150,000 (the township average) produced a K-8 tax bill of $3,180.

The new average assessment in Howell is $350,000 and that homeowner would have paid about $3,458 in K-8 taxes - an increase of $278 - under the budget proposed by the board.

The owner of a home assessed at $400,000 would have paid $3,952 in K-8 school taxes; the owner of a home assessed at $500,000 would have paid $4,940 in K-8 school taxes; and the owner of a home assessed at $600,000 would have paid $5,928 in K-8 school taxes during 2007-08.

The K-8 school tax is one portion of a property owner's overall tax bill. The tax bill also includes municipal taxes, Freehold Regional High School District taxes, Monmouth County taxes and several other assessments.

On April 17, voters were asked to approve a general fund tax levy of $61.4 million. Residents do not vote on the debt service tax levy of $7.7 million. In total, Howell property owners were being asked to pay $69.2 million to support the operation of the K-8 district in the coming year.

The Howell school district operates 10 elementary schools and three middle schools.

The council will now begin its review of the budget and has until mid-May to certify a tax levy for the school district for the 2007-08 academic year. While the council and board may eventually agree on an amount to be cut from the budget, the school administrators would retain the right to decide what programs and/or personnel to reduce or eliminate.