By ROBERT LINNEHAN
To avoid another budget defeat, the Voorhees Township Public School District is urging all residents to get out on Wednesday, April 27 and participate in the annual school board elections. Being away from Voorhees during the election is not an excuse to not cast your vote.
The deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot is Wednesday, April 20. Please click here to download an application.
The district is urging all residents to consider voting by mail ballot if they can’t get to the polls on April 27. The mail-in ballots will ensure the opportunity to cast your vote. Voters are no longer required to give a specific reason for voting by mail. Once you apply for a mail-in ballot you cannot vote at the polls on election day.
Ballots are being mailed this week from the Camden County Board of Elections. Do not forget to send back your ballot as soon as you receive it in the mail.
Once a mail-in ballot is mailed to the voter, the voter must vote by this ballot.
The K-8 district approved a $49.3 million budget in March. If passed, the budget will raise the average assessed homeowner’s school tax bill by $123 in 2011–2012. An average assessed home in Voorhees is valued at $335,930. The total school tax levy for next year is about $41.7 million.
The local school tax rate will increase by about 3.6-cents per every $100 of assessed property value if the budget is passed.
To meet the 2 percent cap, the budget was decreased by almost $2 million from 2010–2011. To reduce the budget the district is planning to cut three certified teachers, two administrative positions, eight resource assistants, a secretary position, and a business office position.
