Employees take buyout in Howell
Budget realities caused board to offer incentives
BY LARRY HLAVENKA JR.
Correspondent

Several staff members have said yes to an Early Retirement Incentive Program (ERIP) offered to them by the Howell K-8 School District.

Administrators offered the package to staff members nearing retirement age to help balance the district's 2007-08 school year budget.

Howell school district officials told the Tri-Town News this week that 11 staff members have accepted the buyout package.

The departing staff members still have until a July 11 Howell Board of Education meeting to retract their participation in the program. Otherwise, the board will vote to approve the buyouts for the 11 staff members.

District officials said a list of employees who accepted the buyout will be made available to the public at the July 11 meeting.

District officials said they had hoped 14 staff members would accept the package, but fell short of their goal.

Staff members who accepted the buyout package had less than two weeks to make their decision - they were given a June 19 deadline. Despite the shortfall in the number of employees accepting the buyout, officials said additional budget cuts are not required.

An ERIP offers service credit to teachers and presents them with package incentives in order to help convince them to retire earlier than they had planned. The district sees immediate savings by no longer having to pay their salaries.

In 2004 the board offered a similar ERIP. More than 85 employees enrolled in the plan at that time.

In April, voters rejected the board's proposed $108.6 million budget for the 2007-08 school year, which forced the board to send the budget to the Township Council for review and ultimately resulted in cuts and initiatives such as the ERIP.

After the budget was sent to the council, the governing body recommended that cuts totaling $1.5 million be made from the school spending plan.

After the cuts were made, the district's 2007-08 budget decreased from approximately $108.6 million to $107.1 million, while the general fund tax levy dropped from $61.4 million to $59.9 million.

At the board's June 6 meeting, its members and the administration pared items from the budget in order to meet the council's recommendations. At that time, district officials announced that an additional $2.5 million shortfall needed to be made up as well, as a result of new state laws aimed at limiting the tax levy and spending.

Included in the cuts were the elimination of after-school busing, a change in non-core-curriculum class schedules (which will leave newly retired teacher positions unfilled) and reductions in the athletic, co-curricular and staff development accounts.

The board also recommended that the administration make another $200,000 worth of cuts to balance the budget. Those specific cuts had not been made public until recently.

Those cuts were a $100,000 savings from favorable workers' compensation decisions, a $50,000 position in the transportation department, and a vacant $50,000 physical education teaching position that will not be filled.

The 2007-08 school year K-8 tax rate was finalized at 97.8 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. This number is significantly lower than the 2006-07 K-8 tax rate of $2.12 per $100 of assessed valuation, due to a revaluation of all Howell properties within the past year. The drop in the tax rate does not mean property owners will pay less in school taxes.

Because of the revaluation in property assessments, some property owners will pay more in taxes and some property owners will pay less as the overall tax levy is more equally distributed among all property owners.

In 2006-07 the owner of home assessed at $150,000 (the previous township average) paid about $3,180 in K-8 school taxes (2.12 x 1,500).

Now with a K-8 tax rate of 97.8 cents and the average home assessed at $350,000, a person whose home was assessed at $350,000 would pay $3,423 in school taxes in the coming year (.978 x 3,500). A person whose home changed its assessment exactly from $150,000 to $350,000 would see a K-8 school tax increase of $243.

The owner of a home assessed at $400,000 will pay about $3,912 in K-8 school taxes in 2007-08. The owner of a home assessed at $500,000 will pay about $4,890 in K-8 school taxes in 2007-08. The owner of a home assessed at $600,000 will pay about $5,868 in K-8 school taxes in 2007-08.

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.