The preliminary budget includes a $259 increase for the average assessed home of $488,481.
Haddonfield residents could see a significant increase in their school taxes in 2017, according to the preliminary budget passed by the Haddonfield Board of Education last Thursday night.
With a 1 percent increase in the total operating budget and a 13.8 percent decrease in state aid, homeowners with a median property value of $488,481 can expect a $259 increase in school taxes, if the budget were passed as presented.
For every $100,000 in property value, homeowners will face a $53 tax increase in school tax, according to Rose Wang, assistant business administrator.
The 3.36 percent increase in the school’s rate consists of two components. The local tax levy is increasing 1.78 percent. There is also a 1.58 percent increase in taxes due to debt services.
There were several factors contributing to the large tax increase. Superintendent Richard Perry said Haddonfield receives minimal state aid, and the majority of its budget is supported by local property taxes.
The district is expecting a decrease in tuition revenue as well. Perry said due to space issues, Haddonfield is unable to take students outside of the district, and the bubble in enrollment created a 41.6 percent decrease in tuition revenue this year.
The superintendent said the rising cost of health care also presented a significant problem when constructing the preliminary budget, with a projected 11.4 percent increase compared to last year.
Perry presented his recommended cuts at Thursday night’s meeting, which he said will also be discussed in further detail at future meetings. The district plans to save $30,000 by changing the curriculum supervisor to a part-time position. This will allow the district to add a teacher at Elizabeth Haddon Elementary School, which Perry said is necessary to avoid going over the class size cap.
“Whenever I approach the budget, the first thing I don’t want to cut is teachers, and that’s how we approached this one,” Perry said.
Further proposed cuts included a $40,000 reduction in athletic stipends and $25,000 in non-athletic stipends as well as an $80,000 reduction in educational assistants. Perry said the district is hoping the assistant cuts will be addressed through attrition rather than position cuts.
When creating the proposed budget, Perry said the district had to face a $750,000 deficit and more than $500,000 in additional requests from administrators that could not be funded. These included requests for additional staff and updated technology.
“It gets more and more difficult each year to be creative, to think of the different ways to maintain a minimal tax levy increases and at the same time cover increases in energy, salary, construction costs and educational needs,” Perry said.
The Board of Education has from April 24 to May 4 to vote for the adoption of the budget. It has not scheduled a specific date for the meeting yet.
