Voters approve local, regional school budgets
BY MELISSA KARSH Staff Writer

LITTLE SILVER - Both the lower school and regional high school budgets were approved by voters last week.

The $12 million budget for the Little Silver Public School District and the 2008-2009 spending plan of $23.5 million for Red Bank Regional High School (RBR) in Little Silver both passed by healthy margins.

The Little Silver Public School District budget was voted on by a total of 752 residents, with 471 voting for the spending plan and 281 against it, according to the Monmouth County unofficial 2008 school election results.

The $10.77 million tax levy, which is the total amount of the district's budget to be raised by taxes, is down 0.7 percent from last year and the new tax rate will be 85.9 cents per $100 of assessed value.

The rate represents a 1.2 percent decrease from the previous year. For the owner of the average home assessed at $552,534, the budget would mean an annual tax increase of about $64.

The RBR budget, which is voted on by residents in Little Silver as well as Red Bank and Shrewsbury Borough, received a total of 1,408 votes but passed by a smaller margin than that of the lower school district.

There were 795 votes cast for the spending plan and 613 votes cast against it, according to the Monmouth County 2008 school election unofficial results.

The RBR Board of Education (BOE) budget would increase the tax rate in Shrewsbury by approximately 6 cents per $100 of assessed value, the highest increase of the three municipalities that send their students to the school.

The budget will bring the tax rate up from 43.23 cents to 48.94 cents per $100 of assessed value for Shrewsbury taxpayers.

A homeowner living in the average Shrewsbury home assessed at $398,967 will pay an additional $18.92 a month, or $227.56 more annually.

The tax rate in Little Silver will also increase by 1 cent per $100 of assessed value, bringing the rate up from 41.5 cents to 42.69 per $100 of assessed value.

A homeowner living in the average Little Silver home assessed at $506,793 will pay an additional $5.07 a month, or $60.82 more annually.

The budget will decrease the tax rate in Red Bank by 0.5 cents per $100 of assessed value. The tax rate will decrease from 35.42 cents to 34.9 cents per $100 of assessed value.

A homeowner living in the average Red Bank home assessed at $400,627 would pay $1.70 less a month, or $20.33 less annually.

The tax levy, or the total amount of the district's budget to be raised by taxes, is about $17.3 million, of which Shrewsbury's share is about 23 percent or $3.97 million; Little Silver's is about 31 percent or $5.35 million; and Red Bank's is about 46 percent or $7.9 million.

T

he $17.3 million tax levy is a 4- percent

increase from last year's tax levy, RBR Business Administrator Christina Galvao said.

In total, the 2008-09 RBR operating budget is a $1,479,013 increase from the $22,063,016 budget for 2007-08.

Little Silver residents also voted to re-elect BOE members James J. Maguire, of Mitchell Place, and Cynthia Mendoza, of Parker Avenue, and to elect newcomer Amy Walsack, of Rustic Terrace.

The three ran unopposed for the three, three-year terms.

Of the 1,689 votes cast, Maguire garnered the highest number, 580 votes, or 34.34 percent; Mendoza garnered 32.45 percent, or 548 votes; and Walsack garnered 31.85 percent, or 538 votes. Voters re-elected incumbents John Garofalo, of Red Bank, and Frank A. Neary Jr., of Shrewsbury, and newcomer Lisa Gilmour, of Little Silver, for three-year terms.

Michael N. Megill, of Little Silver, was elected to fill the remaining oneyear of his unexpired term. He had previously been appointed to fill an unexpired term.

One board member's spot that will not be voted on is that of 23-year BOE veteran Grace T. Costa.

Costa resigned April 3, too late to put the vacancy on the April 15 ballot, said Galvao previously.

"The board will advertise the vacancy within the next week and will accept résumés from Red Bank registered voters," said Galvao in an e-mail.

Costa, a retired Red Bank teacher, was one of five BOE representatives from Red Bank.