School board expected to decide on budget cut
BY TOYNETT HALL
Staff Writer

HOWELL - The township Board of Education was expected to announce its decision this week on the Township Council's recommendation to cut $1.52 million from the 2007-08 school year budget.

The board was scheduled to meet on June 6 at Howell Middle School North.

In April, voters rejected a general fund tax levy of $61.4 million to support the board's $108.6 million budget for the 2007-08 school year.

According to the New Jersey School Boards Association, if voters reject either a base budget or an additional spending question to exceed the base budget, the proposal is sent to the municipal governing body for review. The municipality can leave the budget intact or make cuts.

The council made a cut of $1.52 million, according to Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey Filiatreault.

It is now up to the school board to accept the reduction or to appeal the council's action to the state commissioner of education.

Mayor Joseph DiBella said, "Our primary motivation was to make sure we did not impact the academic portion of the budget. All reductions that were made were of a non-academic nature."

According to DiBella, the $1.5 million cut is the largest reduction ever made by the governing body on a defeated Howell school budget.

Superintendent of Schools Enid Golden said while the board has to adhere to the dollar amount the council recommended be cut, it may make the cuts where it chooses to within the budget.

Under the budget that was rejected by the voters, the K-8 school tax rate was projected to drop from $2.12 per $100 of assessed valuation to 98.9 cents per $100 of assessed valuation because of a revaluation of all Howell properties within the past year.

The drop in the tax rate would not mean that property owners would pay less in school taxes.

According to Filiatreault, the $1.5 million reduction recommended by the council would instead result in a tax rate of 97.8 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.

With a tax rate of 98.9 cents in place, the owner of home assessed at $350,000 (the new township average) would have paid about $3,460 in school taxes.

Now, with a tax rate of 97.8 cents in place, that same person would pay $3,423 in school taxes in the coming year, or a savings of $37 over the initial projection by the school board.

Last year a home that was assessed at $150,000 (the previous township average) produced a K-8 school tax bill of $3,180.

The K-8 school tax is one portion of a property owner's overall tax bill. The tax bill also includes municipal taxes, Freehold Regional High School District taxes, Monmouth County taxes and several other assessments.

The Howell school district operates 10 elementary schools and three middle schools.