Manalapan-Englishtown school budget wins approval
BY KATHY BARATTA Staff Writer

ENGLISHTOWN - A general fund local tax levy of $46.5 million met with voter approval in the April 15 school election. With that approval of the tax levy in hand, the Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District will have a $75.7 million budget in place for the 2008-09 school year.

Although voters in Englishtown rejected the Board of Education's proposed tax levy by a count of 81 no to 35 yes, a majority of voters inManalapan approved the tax levy and that result carried the vote. Manalapan voters approved the proposed tax levy by a vote of 1,042 yes to 919 no, for a final tally of 1,077 yes votes to 1,000 no votes.

The voters' approval of the tax levy means that the board's budget for the 2008-09 school year does not have to be reviewed by the Manalapan Township Committee and the Englishtown Borough Council for a reduction in spending.

The approval will mean a K-8 school tax increase of $5 per $100,000 of assessed valuation forManalapan property owners (i.e. a $20 increase in K-8 school taxes on a home assessed at $400,000) and a K-8 school tax increase of $13 per $100,000 of assessed valuation for Englishtown property owners (i.e. a $39 increase in K-8 school taxes on a home assessed at $300,000).

School taxes are one part of the overall property tax bill which also includes municipal taxes, Monmouth County taxes, Freehold Regional High School District taxes and other assessments.

Also on April 15, three incumbents were re-elected to the school board for three-year terms. The board is made up of eight residents ofManalapan and one resident of Englishtown. All three seats that were on the ballot this year were for Manalapan representatives. Only residents of Manalapan voted for board members.

Re-elected to the board were Dr. Valerie Maglione (999 votes), Donna Formoso (882 votes) and Ryan Green (818 votes). Martin Spindel (771 votes) and Lawrence Furman (653 votes) were unsuccessful in their bids to win a seat on the board.

There are 23,691 registered voters in Manalapan. A total of 2,015 registered voters (8.5 percent) participated in the election in Manalapan.

There are 1,000 registered voters in Englishtown.Atotal of 116 registered voters (11.6 percent) participated in the election in Englishtown.