By ROBERT LINNEHAN
The Haddonfield Sun
Following an emergency meeting held this past Sunday, the Board of Education approved a tentative budget Monday night that includes a 4 percent tax increase and a substantial increase in the activity fees for students at the middle school and high school levels.
The $31.6 million budget would feature a total tax levy of $30.5 million. A 4 percent increase on the tax levy would mean the average assessed home in the borough of $491,359 would see an increase of $254 in its tax bill.
The board scrambled to react to Gov. Christie’s announced plan last week to cut 100 percent of state aid funding to the school district. Board members had to scramble to find $1.5 million that disappeared from next year’s budget.
The board also voted in favor of raising the student activity fees at the middle and high schools. A family with one student at the middle school would pay $200 for an activity fee, two or more students would pay a fee of $300.
At the high school level, a family with one student would pay $300, a family with two students would pay $500, and a family with three or more would pay $600.
As of this moment, it’s unclear of what cuts the district would see for 2010–2011. The administration was charged with finding how to bridge the nearly $1.1 million deficit.
Both of these amendments to the original budget — which featured a 2.53 percent increase — were approved by votes of five to four. Board Members Lynn Biehn, Drew Hansen, Cheryl Laney, Marsha Marshall, and Glen Moramarco cast the votes in favor of the amendments.
The entire population of Haddonfield should carry the burden of this budget, Moramarco said, be it taxpayers, teachers, and students. He defended the student activity fee increase, citing the drive and passion of Haddonfield students to raise funds for charities and other organizations.
Students could work to support these increases, he said, or use portions of the raised funds during the year to help support families in town that may not be able to afford the increased activity fee.
It’s a different world today, Laney said, than it was two weeks ago when the district still had the $1.5 million in state funding. Keeping the tax rate at 2.53 percent would mean too much of a sacrifice for the district schools and too many reductions in programming and staff.
Board President Steve Weinstein, Vice President Michael Joseph Mercanti-Anthony, and Board Members Joseph Ehrhardt and Dennis Kelleher cast votes that were not in favor of the amendments.
Weinstein was particularly displeased with both amendments, but decried the increase in the student activity fee as the “most unconscionable proposal” ever heard during his nine years on the board of education.
Asking families to pay more in student activity funds because their children use the facilities more than others is like asking senior citizens to pay less in school district taxes because they don’t have any children in the district, he said.
“If you have three kids spread over the district, that may be an additional $900 in activity fees on top of their tax bill,” Weinstein said.
Ehrhardt expressed doubt that the district would see much of an increase through the student activity fees. Would a freshman athlete pay $600 to possibly sit for a season on the junior varsity team? he asked.
Fegley said the district — like the majority of school districts throughout the state — was planning on seeing its aid cut by about 15 percent this year, or about $300,000 from the $1.5 million total it received last year. Instead, when the cuts were announced, the Haddonfield district realized it would be receiving exactly zero dollars for 2010–2011 budget in state aid.
The next board of education meeting will be held on Thursday. The board will hold its informal budget hearing at 7 p.m. in the HMHS library. On Friday, the board will hold its formal budget hearing at 8 a.m. at the library.
