Sending towns trim defeated MRHS budget by $50K

Sending towns trim defeated MRHS budget by $50K
BY KENNY WALTER AND ANDREW DAVISON Staff Writer

EATONTOWN — Two of the three municipalities that send students to the Monmouth Regional School District have recommended that cuts be made to the district’s defeated $25.6 million budget.

The borough councils of both Eatontown and Tinton Falls approved resolutions recommending $50,000 in cuts to the regional school district budget.

The Tinton Falls Borough Council passed with a 3-0 vote at the May 4 meeting approving the $50,000 recommendation in cuts to the budget. Council President Duane Morrill was absent for the vote, and Councilman Scott Larkin abstained from the vote because he is employed by the district.

Tinton Falls Councilman Gary Baldwin said he represented the council in a meeting with district officials and representatives from the other two sending towns of Eatontown and Shrewsbury Township.

The regional school district budget failed in both Eatontown and Shrewsbury but was passed by voters in Tinton Falls.

Baldwin said that because the budget passed in Tinton Falls, he approached the meeting with a different mindset.

“Our residents voted to approve the Monmouth Regional budget, and our position on it is that if our residents approve it, that means they support it,” he said. “I went there with no agenda other than to understand why Eatontown wouldn’t approve it.”

Baldwin said he largely stayed out of the negotiations on what and how much to cut the budget.

“We left it between the school board and Eatontown officials to decide what a fair compromisewould be,” he said. “The compromise, after the back and forth, ended up at $50,000.

“I acted as a moderator in all that, asking that Eatontown not be responsible for telling the board where to cut, although they did quite an extensive audit on the budget and were well versed on the budget. But it is truly the school board decision where to make the cuts.”

Eatontown officials also met last week in a workshop meeting to discuss the budget.

Borough Administrator George Jackson said he corresponded with Eatontown District Superintendent Barbara Struble and Monmouth County Superintendent Carole Morris, and all agreed that the council could not further reduce the tax levy.

“It is beyond the scope of the power of the governing body, despite the defeated tax levy, to make any changes or amendments or recommend any, because the local school’s tax levy was at the required minimum by statute,” Jackson said.

The council must now pass a resolution certifying the budget before May 19. Jackson indicated the resolution would be presented at the May 12 regular meeting.

Last week Jackson met with representatives from the Monmouth Regional Board of Education, Superintendent Charles Ford Jr., Business Administrator Maria Parry, members of the Tinton Falls governing body, auditor Robert Oliwa of Oliwa & Co., Freehold, and others to reduce the Monmouth Regional tax levy.

Jackson said Oliwa initially suggested a $105,000 cut, but after further discussion, all parties agreed that $50,000 was sufficient.

Oliwa recommended cutting this amount from money budgeted for employee health benefits. He said this line item had increased by $364,000 from last year.

A resolution recommending this reduction will also be prepared for the May 12 regular meeting.

The Board of Education must abide by the dollar amount passed by the council but does not have to cut from the recommended line items.

The budget calls for an $18.7 million tax levy and failed by just 55 votes.

To offset a decrease in state aid and the increase in health benefits costs, the district’s original budget called for cutting five position and cuts to student activities and supplies.