Council calls for $500K cut in school budget
Board of Education planned to vote on $50.3M spending plan
BY DANIEL HOWLEY Staff Writer

OCEAN TOWNSHIP - The Township Council is recommending that the district Board of Education (BOE) cut the school spending by $500,000.

The council adopted a resolution May 13 that calls for a $505,546 reduction to the $64.3 million school spending plan that was rejected by township voters in April.

The BOE was scheduled to vote on the newly revised $50,344,384 school budget at Tuesday night's meeting.

"A defeated school budget is always a very difficult thing," Councilman William Garofalo said at the May 13 council meeting.

"You have the will of the voters and therefore you are required to take some action, but you also have the children of the community, and it is very important to keep that in mind," he said.

According to Township Business Administrator Andrew Brannen, the original 2008-09 school budget called for a 2.5-cent tax rate increase from last year's $1.05 per $100 of assessed property value to $1.075 per $100 of assessed valuation.

Under the terms of the new spending plan, residents will see a tax rate increase of 1.98 cents, or $1.069 per $100 of assessed property valuation.

"We looked at probably close to 100 line items and we looked at them over and over again," Garofalo said. "We were able, out of the 100 line items that we looked at, to come up with cuts in about a dozen.

"To some people [the cuts] may not be significant. To some people they may not be enough.

"But we are pretty confident that they are the right numbers and that they provide us with the purpose that we were sent to do, which was to fulfill our obligation to the will of the voters, and once again, I have to state strongly, without harming any child in this township," Garofalo said.

The school spending plan was turned over to the council for review after it was defeated by a margin of 64 votes by township taxpayers.

The original spending plan had called for residents to raise a $50,849,930 tax levy. Under the new budget, taxpayers will raise a $50.34 million tax levy.

The council has recommended that $113,500 be cut in budget for utilities, including electricity and natural gas within the district, according to Garofalo.

Additionally, the council is calling for a $105,150 reduction in employee medical and health benefits and insurance spending.

Other notable reductions included an $88,867 cut in spending on tuition for private schools for disabled children and a combined $79,350 reduction in spending on capital improvements to the schools in the district, according to Garofalo.

Also at the meeting, representatives from the BOE and the Township of Ocean Education Association (TOEA) appeared seeking a resolution to an ongoing contract dispute.

Members of the TOEA, which represents district teachers, secretaries, maintenance workers and custodians, have been working under the terms of a contract that expired in July.

Councilman Christopher Siciliano said at the meeting, "I just want you folks to keep in mind, it's not the purview of the council to help teachers negotiate with their contract.

"We are here really to just look at the budget itself and make recommendations towards cuts," Siciliano said. "We are behind you guys 100 percent with whatever you do. My kids went through the schools and you do a great job.

"I went through the school myself," he said, adding, "I wish you guys a lot of luck."

The TOEA is seeking the removal of a clause in its 2004 contract that calls for all new employees hired after July 2001 to pay 10 percent of their health insurance premium.

In a letter sent to district parents last month, the BOE stated, "Now, in 2007 contract negotiations, after six years of contributions, the union believes that what has become the status quo is an unacceptable provision. The BOE rejects this position."

Negotiations for a new contract have been ongoing since November 2006. The two parties have begun participating in a series of fact-finding hearings with the hope of resolving the dispute.