Cuts to spending plan made

FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP - Administrators in the Freehold Township K-8 School District have determined how they will accommodate a reduction in the local tax levy for the 2008-09 school year.

District officials said cuts for the coming year will include the reduction of three elementary computer teaching positions, two bus drivers, three custodial positions (at the Barkalow Middle School, the Eisenhower Middle School and the West Freehold School), three office assistants, a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) mechanic, a special education teacher at the Joseph J. Catena School, a teacher's assistant at the Catena school, and one teacher from the Early Childhood Learning Center.

In addition, upgrades to the HVAC system at the Catena school will be eliminated, as well as a renewed bus lease.

The cuts by the school district were necessitated following the voters' April 15 defeat of a proposed $53.9 million tax levy the Board of Education proposed to support a $67.9 million budget for the coming school year.

After reviewing the school district's 2008-09 budget, the members of the Township Committee certified a tax levy of just over $53 million, meaning school officials had to trim projected spending by $923,000 or find additional revenues to offset the loss in proposed taxes.

The reduction in the tax levy that was agreed to by the school board means that the Freehold Township K-8 school tax rate will remain virtually unchanged in the coming school year.

The K-8 school tax rate is currently $1.79 per $100 of assessed valuation, which means that the owner of a home assessed at $200,000 pays about $3,580 in K-8 school taxes at the present time.

The owner of a home assessed at $400,000 pays about $7,160 in K-8 school taxes at the present time.

The school board was proposing to raise the school tax rate to $1.82 per $100 of assessed valuation for 2008-09.

That would have left the owner of a home assessed at $200,000 with a K-8 school tax bill of about $3,640, an increase of $60 over the present amount.

It would have left the owner of a home assessed at $400,000 with a K-8 school tax bill of about $7,280, an increase of $120 over the present amount.