Voters give rare nod of approval to budget
Howell grass-roots groups helped get the word out about school spending
BY TOYNETT HALL Staff Writer

The possibility that the Howell Board of Education might close a school in September may have been one factor that galvanized the community to mobilize and approve the board's proposed tax levy and budget for the 2008-09 school year.

In a community where voters have a history of defeating the proposed school budget, April 15 was a rare chance for Howell K-8 School District administrators and board members to enjoy the voters' passage of the coming year's spending plan.

By a count of 3,381 yes votes to 2,478 no votes, the board's proposed $62.1 million general fund local tax levy to support a $110.1 million budget for 2008-09 was approved.

The results marked only the third time in 12 years that voters have approved a budget and kept it from being reviewed and reduced by the Howell Township Council.

The budget will keep all 13 of Howell's schools open during the 2008-09 school year. Enrollment in the district has been declining over the past few years and members of a subcommittee of the board had discussed the possibility of closing a school in September.

The approval of the tax levy means the district can continue to provide courtesy busing, middle school sports programs and cocurricular activities, summer programs and technology programs.

Several grass-roots organizations appear to have played a role in helping the budget gain approval.

According to Dan Harasty, a five-year resident of Howell who is the parent of two elementary school pupils and one middle school pupil, "Many folks worked to get out the information about the school budget."

Harasty formed an online forum that allowed people to discuss Howell school issues. He said when he heard that district officials might consider closing a school as early as September, he decided to find out the truth about the budget situation.

"Early on when there was discussion about closing the Ardena School, I heard a lot of things that sounded like rumors. I set out to find the facts and then e-mail them to all of the parents who seemed interested," Harasty said last week.

"Eventually we started using an online system called Google Groups to allow anyone to join and contribute to the discussion. The main characteristic I was striving for was that people be accurate in the facts they reported and respectful in the discussion of their opinions," he said.

Harasty said many people helped with the effort.

"I wasn't the one personally canvassing at every community sports event, school event and bus stop. I helped get information summarized in an accurate and useful form.What people did with it was share it," he said.

When asked why he got involved in the process,Harasty said, "I wasn't predisposed to be for or against the closing of any school. I went into it wanting to learn the facts. I was committed to learning and then sharing the facts in a level headed manner."

Another group that appears to have played a role in the passage of the school budget this year was the Howell Vote Yes organization.

Lisa Ambrosio Williams, who participated in Howell Vote Yes, said, "I firmly believe this grassroots effort had a great deal to do with the budget passing. We assembled interested individuals from each school.

"We met, designed a logo and slogan, and created a Web site for information sharing. Our main charter was to educate the public and let them know the importance of their votes and its impact on their children," she said.

Howell Superintendent of Schools Enid Golden was thrilled with the budget result.

"There was a very big awareness program by volunteers who formed grassroots groups" to get the word out, she said. "I am very happy with the results. This allows us to keep everything that we currently have in our budget and it buys the board some time. It gives us the opportunity to put some thought into how we go forward."

Moving forward with a plan for the future is something the board will begin to do right away. In the face of new state laws which set limits on howmuch revenuemay be raised in local property taxes, district administrators have a lot of planning to do.

Louis Corato, the board's vice president who chairs the finance committee, said, "the finance committee has to immediately start to gauge how they will stem the tide for next year."

According to Corato, there will be no financial waivers granted by the state for the 2009-10 school year as there were for the 2008-09 school year.

"This year we applied for $3.9million in waivers and got $2million in non-recurring revenue" because the district previously overpaid $2 million into the pension fund, Corato said. "That waiver will not be here (for 2009-10). So we are already $2 million down. We also have $60 million in salaries in the budget. The contracts will probably be up around $2 million, so that is an additional $2 million; which now makes us $4 million down. The board will be facing a $4 million to $5million deficit.We still have to look at buildings and outsourcing as options to bring in big money (reductions in spending)."

The Howell K-8 School District's total budget for 2008-09 is up 1.49 percent over the 2007-08 budget which totaled $108.6 million.

The K-8 school tax rate will increase from97.7 cents per $100 of assessed valuation to $1 per $100 of assessed valuation.

With a rate of 97.7 cents in place, the owner of a home assessed at $200,000 is paying about $1,954 in K-8 school taxes in 2007-08. With a rate of $1 in place, that amount will rise to $2,000 in 2008-09.

The owner of a home assessed at $350,000 (Howell's average assessment) is paying about $3,419 in K-8 school taxes in 2007-08. With a rate of $1 in place, that amount will rise to $3,500 in 2008-09.

The owner of a home assessed at $500,000 is paying about $4,885 in K-8 school taxes in 2007-08.With a rate of $1 in place, that amount will rise to $5,000 in 2008-09.

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

On Election Day, voters returned three incumbents to the Board of Education. Incumbents David Flaherty (3,254 votes), Sheryl Roses (3,146 votes) and Gene Tanala (2,601 votes) were returned to the board.

Fatima Tobon (1,920 votes) was unsuccessful in her bid for a three-year term.

Stephen Levine ran unopposed to complete a two-year unexpired term and received 3,500 votes to earn a seat on the school board.