For the first time since February 2020, the Cherry Hill board of education met in person on March 15 at the Malberg Administration Building to review its budget, after shifting meeting locations from Carusi Middle School to Cherry Hill West and back to Malberg.
The only agenda item at the session was a presentation by Assistant Superintendent and Business Administrator Lynn Shugars on the upcoming budget, including expenses, revenues, additions, capital projects and the tax impact on residents.
The total proposed general fund budget for 2022-’23 is $231 million, $7.4 million more than last year, or a 3.3 percent increase. For taxpayers, that would mean a 1.25 percent hike, an increase that would amount to another $65 a year for the average assessed home of $226,400.
While the district received $29.6 million in state aid this year – or roughly $5 million more than last – taxpayers would shoulder 80 percent of the budget, with 14 percent funded by state aid and the rest by capital reserves and other funding.
“I hope people out there will keep up that fight (for fair funding), because in looking at a lot of the numbers out there and different state aid things, Cherry Hill is still way, way below the average there,” said board member Dr. Ben Rood.
While the general budget has increased, a breakdown of the plan by salaries, benefits and all other educational and administrative needs and capital-reserve projects shows the biggest increase has been to employee benefits, with a decrease in educational and administrative needs of $1 million.
Additions to the budget include three additional autistic support classes with 12 new staff members, a new elementary math coach, a technology teacher for the high school, a technology specialist and additional athletic training services.
“You can see here that salaries and benefits make up 73 percent of our budget,” Shugars explained. “We are truly a personnel-driven organization.”
In the coming year, the district will take on three capital reserve projects that include district-wide HVAC upgrades, playground upgrades to the newly named Malberg (currently Barclay) Early Childhood Playground that include ADA accessibility, and ADA work at Stockton Elementary and the newly named Lewis (currently Malberg) administration building. (Name changes will be official in June or July.)
The first two will be supplemented by other grants. For capital outlay projects, paid for through the general reserve, the district will upgrade flooring across the district and remove asbestos over the summer; create pavilions at Carusi and Beck middle schools; and upgrade a century-old HVAC system at the Marlkress operating building, including a new generator.
Shugars explained that the first project has been removed from the bond referendum and that the board will hold off on a pavilion at Rosa International Middle School depending on whether the referendum passes, since it includes an addition there.
“Anything we do now, even though it may not get the reimbursement, it does take pressure off the referendum in terms of projects that we’re doing,” Shugars noted. “Even though we’re not waiting for the funding, I think it does benefit us to try and keep moving ahead with some of these projects. If the bond referendum doesn’t pass, we’d be even further behind in some of those areas.”
While no action was taken, the consensus of the board was that the increased tax levy was a reasonable one. The board also announced that it will hold a town hall on March 29 regarding later start times at the same time and place in a hybrid format.
To see the presentation, visit the Cherry Hill Public Schools’ YouTube page or https://www.chclc.org/Page/2521.
