School taxes will be increasing again this year, according to the Assistant Business Administrator and Board Secretary Stephen Burns, who presented the preliminary budget at last Thursday night’s meeting.
School taxes will be increasing again this year, according to the Assistant Business Administrator and Board Secretary Stephen Burns, who presented the preliminary budget at last Thursday night’s meeting. The preliminary budget will be up for approval next month.
“We have some good news, last week we found out we had an additional $228,000 in state aid,” Burns said.
The budget will have an increase of state aid that will amount to $1,366,943 in comparison to last year’s $1,138,121, and homeowners with an average property value of $491,674 will see an approximate increase in school taxes of $265 annually, if the budget is approved.
The local tax levy will increase 1.72 percent over last year’s budget; however, there will be a slight decrease in tuition revenue, approximately $78,710, due to low enrollment. Despite the decrease, revenues seem to be “on target,” according to Burns.
The highlights of the budget include four major topics — curriculum, student wellness, facilities and technology. The curriculum aspect of the budget includes hiring two additional supervisors for a total of $200,000, a high school science teacher for $80,000, and the purchasing of both elementary and high school science textbooks for a combined total of $125,000.
Student wellness costs include but are not limited to investing $55,000 to take the part-time elementary school counselor to full time and incorporating intramural sports back into the budget for $8,000.
Facility costs include security updates, which will be a priority, but the specifics cannot be discussed publicly and a cost has not been determined yet.
The budget allows for $100,000 to be put into new display panels.
“That has two parts, to move into a newer technology and two, because our smart boards are outdated,” Burns said.
“The budget is an ongoing conversation that we have been having for 12 months about what our needs are this year,” Board President Adam Sangillo said.
Sangillo explained that everything that was discussed and that the board decided to keep or implement made it to the highlights of the budget.
April 25 will be the public hearing for the budget, which is when the finalized budget will be adopted and approved for next school year, according to Burns.
The next board of education meeting will be held on April 26 at 7 p.m. in the Haddonfield Memorial High School Library.
