Long Branch '09-10 budget plan to keep school tax flat

Long Branch ’09-10 budget plan to keep school tax flat
BY KENNY WALTER Staff Writer
Despite losing over $2.7 million in a state aid reduction, the Long Branch School District will not raise taxes this year.

The district’s $76 million budget comes with a tax levy of $31.5 million for the third year in a row.

Superintendent of Schools Joseph Ferraina spoke of the challenges his district had in keeping taxes from increasing without having to resort to layoffs.

“We could have gone up 4 percent, and we didn’t go up at all,” he said. “It was a huge challenge this year.

“When you have salaries going up, it is very difficult to keep the cost down,” he added. “We were planning ahead and one of the major things is, we met with the teachers and all the union representatives, and a year ago, they were willing to help us out so we didn’t have to reduce staff.”

The tax rate holds steady at 75.19 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, meaning the average homeowner will pay about $2,900 in school-based taxes.

The budget last year failed by just nine votes, but like last year, this year’s tax levy is at the state-mandated minimum as an Abbott district, so even if the budget fails, it cannot be cut further.

The district received $47.3 million in state aid, representing a 5.4 percent decrease from last year. Of the $47.3 million, more than $10 million will be used for the preschool program and $2.4 million will be used for special education.

One of the ways Ferraina said the district was able to combat the reduction was by switching to the state’s health benefits plan last May.

“We were able to save over $2 million in health benefits costs,” he said. “That set us up in a better position this year.”

Another thing the district did was reaching an agreement with the teachers to work free hours during the summer.

“One of the most amazing things is the teachers and aides gave us an extra hour for the summer program,” he said. “We had to pay for everybody to work an extra hour in the summer to do special programs for the gifted students, for the students at risk and for different athletic activities.

“The teachers all agreed to work an extra hour in the summer, which reduces your cost,” he added. “They are working an extra hour and a half in the summer for free.”

Ferraina said that the district started to prepare for this year’s budget last year, coming up with many possible scenarios.

“We started last June to budget for this year,” he said. “I told my folks to do a budget with a cost-of-living increase. Let’s do a budget with a zero increase. Let’s do a budget with a 5 percent reduction.

“Let’s do a budget with a 10 percent reduction,” he continued, “and let’s do a budget with a 15 percent reduction. We did all those numbers and had a plan for each of them.”

Ferraina explained the goal was always to keep taxes down and that the administration is already preparing for next year’s budget.

“The governor came in to some tough times, so it was our job to come up with a plan where we didn’t have to increase taxes,” he said. “This a real tough time for everybody so our goal was to keep the budget where it is.

“The planning that happened this year was difficult but we started a year ago,” he added. “Now we are planning for next year.”

Ferraina said that the goal of the district is to cut spending, but to do it in a way that does not affect education.

“I think that in these trying times we were able to be prepared to submit a budget that is not going to hurt the children,” he said. “We tried to do that, and I think we did it well.”

The public will have the opportunity to vote on the budget, as well as four candidates for three open seats on the Board of Education on April 20.

If the budget fails, it will then go to the City Council.

The district expects to have an enrollment of 5,114 students next year, which represents a reduction of 45 students.

Contact Kenny Walter at

kwalter@gmnews.com.






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