Board wants residents to hear all budget talks
BY DAVE BENJAMIN Staff Writer

JACKSON - Board of Education members are aiming to give the public a better of view of how the school district's annual budget is developed.

Speaking at a Nov. 13 board meeting, Superintendent of Schools Thomas Gialanella said, "We are going to make the budget presentations and the budget process a little bit more transparent and a little bit more open. The public will be able to see what the finance committee has seen for many years. In order to do that we will have to work ahead of it and move our budget schedule up."

During the 2007-08 school year, Jackson's K-12 school district is operating with a $130 million budget. Property owners are paying about $63 million of that total amount, with the remainder of the budget coming from other sources.

The owner of a home that is assessed at $150,000 is paying about $3,400 in school taxes this year. The owner of a home that is assessed at $250,000 is paying about $5,690 in school taxes this year. The owner of a home that is assessed at $400,000 is paying about $9,100 in school taxes.

School taxes are the largest component of a property owner's tax bill, which also includes municipal and county taxes, among other assessments.

Gialanella said department heads and school administrators had been submitting their proposed budget for the coming year in December or January.

This year the 2008-09 budget proposals from department heads were due Oct. 30.

Gialanella said board members Sharon Dey and Martin Spielman brought that issue to light.

Gialanella credited Assistant Superintendent Lu Anne Meinders with putting together a program to make the process more open. He presented the board with a schedule to present the new budget information and said the information will be publicized on the district's Internet Web site.

The superintendent said he hopes to generate interest among residents about the budget process and suggested it is important to get the word out via the school district's Web site, letters to parents and the media.

Board member Michael Hanlon said it would be most beneficial to have more members of the public come to the panel's meetings.

The board members voted to meet at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 18 and 6:30 p.m. Jan. 15. The 2008-09 school year budget is expected to be discussed at those meetings, both of which will take place at the Fine Arts Center at Jackson Memorial High School, Don Connor Boulevard.

After the board comes up with a final proposal for the 2008-09 budget in March, residents will vote on the spending plan in the April school election.