School board proposes $83.6M budget The 2008-09 spending plan calls for 2.25-cent tax rate increase BY CHRISTINE VARNO Staff Writer LONG BRANCH - The district Board of Education is asking city voters to approve an $83.6 million school spending plan for the 2008-09 school year. The budget would mean a 2.25-cent increase in the tax rate if approved by residents on Election Day April 15. Under the proposed budget, the tax levy would be $31.5 million, according to Long Branch Superintendent of Schools Joseph M. Ferraina. City taxpayers would see an increase from last year's 58.7-cent per $100 of assessed property value to 60.9 cents per $100 of assessed valuation if the spending plan is approved by voters. For the average homeowner whose home is assessed at $470,000, the budget would mean an additional $107 per year in taxes, according to Ferraina. The largest areas of cost in the proposed spending plan include energy costs, benefits and salaries, according to Ferraina. "Every year we try to meet the needs of every student and to do it cost effectively," Ferraina said. "This year we were able to do that. "This is a budget that we can work with," he said. The Long Branch School District is one of the original 28 districts in the state to be designated in 1990 as an Abbott district. The 10-school district remains one of the 31 Abbott districts today. Abbott districts were mandated by the New Jersey Supreme Court to provide students in poorer urban school districts with "a thorough and efficient education." Abbott funds make up more than 50 percent of the school budget, according to Ferraina. If the budget is voted down on April 15, the City Council will review the spending plan. The council is not required to make any changes to the budget, though it can, if it chooses, reduce or even increase the amount of money the district plans to spend and raise through taxes. If the school board believes the changes the council has made would too severely affect district operations, it may appeal the council's decision to the state commissioner of education, who would have the last word on any revisions to the budget. Three incumbents on the Board of Education are running unopposed in the April election. Incumbents Violeta Peters of Wertheim Place, Joseph Sirianni of Community Place and Rose M. Widdis of Hulick Street are seeking re-election to three-year terms on the nine-member board. Sirianni has been serving on the board for 19 years, Peters for 18 years and Widdis for 12 years.