MANASQUAN — The district trimmed their school budget
by $3.9 million from last year, but residents will still get hit with a
tax increase.
The total budget the Board of Education approved was $23.9 million for the 2013-14 school year. The amount to be raised by taxation did not change from last year and remained at $12,655,951.
“I think we adopted a very responsible budget, cognizant of the needs of taxpayers, the administration, staff and the students,” said board finance committee chair Michael Shelton.
The biggest determent of the slimmed down budget was the elimination of an anticipated endowment of $2.5 million from an alumni association for new athletic fields. That money was listed as a line item last year, but was never received.
However, because of a drop in students and loss of ratables from superstorm Sandy, residents will be asked to spend an average of $217 more this year on school taxes than last year based on the average home value of $473,400. That equates to a 5 percent increase from $.85 per $100 of assessed value last year to $.90.
Enrollment in the district has been dropping from a peak high of 1,726 students in 2002-23 to 1,611 this school year.
The biggest decline occurred the last two years when the district lost 82 students.
The district expects to collect $8.8 million in tuition next year, down nearly $300,000 from this year and a high of $11.9 million in 2009-10.
“Administratively, we have been talking about that all year long because it is a concern,” interim superintendent Robert Mahon said.
Mahon pinned the slide on competition from Monmouth County’s six vocational schools and a decline in enrollment in the seven sending districts — Avon, Belmar, Brielle, Lake Como, Sea Girt, Spring Lake and Spring Lake Heights — that feed Manasquan High School.
Julia Barnes, Brielle’s board representative, said her school currently has a student body in the six hundreds, but a demographic study indicated their student population will drop to 425 in the next four years.
Even with fewer students attending the high school, the district passed a tuition decrease for all sending districts, bucking a recent trend of hikes.
Another effect on the budget was the tax base that got slammed by the Sandy.
The superstorm caused a loss of approximately $80 million in ratables. In lieu of Gov. Chris Christie’s mandate, the school is looking into the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Community Disaster Loans, but did not include any anticipated revenue coming from that source in their budget.
Former Manasquan mayor and BOE member John Winterstella spoke against the loans, calling it a “trap.”
“I would encourage you not to take the loans because it’s a 10-year obligation. It’s going to have to be paid back,” Winterstella said.
The budget also called for seven staff positions to be cut and the high school industrial arts programs to be dropped. Funding also was reduced for athletics by $47,000, though no programs were lost.
The district will restore PSAT and Advance Placement testing, add a district security officer, and maintain all core curriculum.
It also will retain a surplus of $529,079.
The total budget the Board of Education approved was $23.9 million for the 2013-14 school year. The amount to be raised by taxation did not change from last year and remained at $12,655,951.
“I think we adopted a very responsible budget, cognizant of the needs of taxpayers, the administration, staff and the students,” said board finance committee chair Michael Shelton.
The biggest determent of the slimmed down budget was the elimination of an anticipated endowment of $2.5 million from an alumni association for new athletic fields. That money was listed as a line item last year, but was never received.
However, because of a drop in students and loss of ratables from superstorm Sandy, residents will be asked to spend an average of $217 more this year on school taxes than last year based on the average home value of $473,400. That equates to a 5 percent increase from $.85 per $100 of assessed value last year to $.90.
Enrollment in the district has been dropping from a peak high of 1,726 students in 2002-23 to 1,611 this school year.
The biggest decline occurred the last two years when the district lost 82 students.
The district expects to collect $8.8 million in tuition next year, down nearly $300,000 from this year and a high of $11.9 million in 2009-10.
“Administratively, we have been talking about that all year long because it is a concern,” interim superintendent Robert Mahon said.
Mahon pinned the slide on competition from Monmouth County’s six vocational schools and a decline in enrollment in the seven sending districts — Avon, Belmar, Brielle, Lake Como, Sea Girt, Spring Lake and Spring Lake Heights — that feed Manasquan High School.
Julia Barnes, Brielle’s board representative, said her school currently has a student body in the six hundreds, but a demographic study indicated their student population will drop to 425 in the next four years.
Even with fewer students attending the high school, the district passed a tuition decrease for all sending districts, bucking a recent trend of hikes.
Another effect on the budget was the tax base that got slammed by the Sandy.
The superstorm caused a loss of approximately $80 million in ratables. In lieu of Gov. Chris Christie’s mandate, the school is looking into the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Community Disaster Loans, but did not include any anticipated revenue coming from that source in their budget.
Former Manasquan mayor and BOE member John Winterstella spoke against the loans, calling it a “trap.”
“I would encourage you not to take the loans because it’s a 10-year obligation. It’s going to have to be paid back,” Winterstella said.
The budget also called for seven staff positions to be cut and the high school industrial arts programs to be dropped. Funding also was reduced for athletics by $47,000, though no programs were lost.
The district will restore PSAT and Advance Placement testing, add a district security officer, and maintain all core curriculum.
It also will retain a surplus of $529,079.
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