Residents living in average assessed home will pay $18.75 more per year in school taxes
The Board of Education adopted a budget for the 2017–18 school year last week with a tax levy increase of 2 percent.
The budget totals $149.6 million, a decrease from last year’s $149.9 million. The district will be receiving a flat rate of approximately $51 million in state aid for the 2017–18 school year.
Residents with an average assessed home value of $210,000 can expect to pay approximately $4,207 in school taxes, an increase of $18.75 compared to last year.
“It’s not a good day for us when we have to raise taxes to provide programs for kids,” Board of Education President Ginny Murphy said. “It’s not fun, it’s not easy and we do what we have to do; we do the job we were elected to do. I appreciate the support that we have had.”
According to Superintendent Joseph Bollendorf, the reason taxes will be increasing while the budget is decreasing is because revenues are down. In the 2016–17 school year, the district had a capital reserve of $1.65 million. Without the reserve for the 2017–18 school year, the budget had to be reduced.
“To offset the loss in revenue, you look to the local tax levy so you can continue to operate the district safely and correctly,” Bollendorf said.
Changes were made to the budget from the time the board adopted the preliminary version earlier this year. The proposed technology staff and support for phase two of the 1:1 laptop initiative, costing approximately $600,000 and a point of contention at the preliminary budget meeting, was reduced by almost $462,000. Additionally, a savings of $1.9 million was realized in the receipt of actual health-care costs against what was projected.
According to Bollendorf, the reductions in terms of cost presented opportunity in the form of one-time projects that were needed.
“What can we do now that we’re not going to escape doing later?” Bollendorf asked.
The reductions allowed for additions to the budget, such as a new roof for Orchard Valley Middle School at a cost of approximately $2.3 million, a partial parking lot replacement for Bunker Hill Middle School for $250,000, and the renovation of two gym roofs at Washington Township High School, costing $504,000.
Bollendorf said funding for the expenditures also came from an increase in miscellaneous revenue and fund balances.
According to Bollendorf, 94.7 percent of the district’s costs are fixed, such as salaries for existing staff, utilities, employee benefits and insurance. Where it can reduce costs, he said, is with staffing.
“We still need to provide enough staff to fulfill the needs of the children in our district,” Bollendorf said. “Our population and enrollment has gone down, but we’re still the largest school district in Gloucester County by a lot.”
Eighteen certified staff members would be affected by the district budget. Nine full-time positions and one part-time position will be redeployed for need, six full-time employees and one part-time employee will be leaving due to retirement or resignation, and two positions will be terminated. One secretarial position will be lost from retirement as well.
Staffing for the technology department was reduced from the initial preliminary budget. There will be no additional staff; instead, the district will be using a conversion model only. Six 10-month employees, originally proposed as eight, will be converted to 12-month employees. Three part-time student workers will also be added for 12-month positions, having only worked the summers in the past.
The budget proposes an additional nine part-time clerical assistants, three full-time specialized assistants and one part-time secretary.
The budget also took into account new equipment, such as five buses, a courier van, a 3-D printer and TV/production equipment, to name a few.
Capital projects include sidewalk expansions at Birches Elementary School, a replacement gym floor at Bunker Hill Middle School, blacktop replacement for the high school’s basketball court, repairs to the bus yard and more.
In the 2017–18 cap calculation, the district is requesting approximately $84.7 million from taxpayers, about $838,000 under the cap of $85.54 million, which would be banked and roll over into the next three years for the board to use in the form of tax levy.
“I recognize we have a lot of folks in our community on a fixed income that find it very difficult and are concerned about the direction of taxes in our community,” Bollendorf said, “but I believe in one thing and one thing only; I believe in our town and our community, which also directly relates to the value of our properties and is a direct correlation to the value of our schools … we have invested in the quality of the education in this community and it means something, it means a lot. It’s a reason why people continue to try to move here to be a part of the Washington Township school district.”
Bollendorf said going into the budget planning, the administration and board had a number of goals, for example, maintaining a safe environment beneficial to learning, meeting the needs of an “increasingly diverse student population,” maintaining an average class size of 25, providing programs that prepare students for the 21st century and minimizing tax impact while maximizing efficient use of tax dollars.
In anticipation of a possible funding decrease with a new state administration and governor next year, the district and board thanked the residents and community for their support and welcomed suggestions to plan ahead.
“When the state didn’t step into the shoes and fulfill their financial responsibilities, and when the federal government doesn’t step in and fulfill their responsibilities, it keeps getting pushed down to us as local taxpayers and there’s nowhere else for it to go,” Murphy said. “We need to be that voice to try to find some balance, and that’s what we’re trying to do. From the bottom of my heart, I thank the community for their continued support.”
