S.B. voters reject $1.19M school budget
Voters pass Rumson and Shrewsbury Borough BOE budgets
BY MELISSA KARSH Staff Writer
School district budgets in Rumson and Shrewsbury borough were passed by voters on April 15, while the 2008-09 school budget in Sea Bright was voted down.

The Rumson Public School district's $12.68 million budget received a total of 716 votes - 498 for the spending plan and 218 against it - according to the Monmouth County 2008 school election unofficial results.

The $11.69 million tax levy, which is the total amount of the district's budget to be raised by taxes, increased this year by about $400,000.

For every $100,000 of assessed value, the tax increase in Rumson is $8.91.

The Shrewsbury Borough School District's 2008-09 spending plan was also passed by voters, but by a smaller margin than that of Rumson.

The budget received a total of 342 votes, with 199 cast for the spending plan and 143 against it, according to the Monmouth County 2008 school election unofficial results.

Aspread of about 70 votes resulted in the Sea Bright Board of Education (BOE) budget being turned down by voters.

Atotal of 118 voters cast ballots for the $1.19 million 2008-09 spending plan, which called for a 3.3 percent increase in the local school tax rate for Sea Bright, which is part of the Oceanport School District.

Sea Bright is a non-operating district, which means it is a district that has school-age children but does not operate a district school of its own, according to state Department of Education spokesman Rich Vespucci.

According to the Monmouth County 2008 school election unofficial results, there were 23 votes cast for the budget and 95 cast against it.

"We're disappointed that the budget did not pass, but we understand that the voters of Sea Bright respond in many ways with all school budgets really reacting to the Shore Regional budget," said Sea Bright BOE Vice President Marianne McKenzie.

Sea Bright officials have been working to get tax relief for residents when it comes to the Shore Regional High School [SRHS] budget, which voters passed 1,059 to 960 votes.

The SRHS school budget would increase the tax rate in Sea Bright by approximately 6.6 cents per $100 of assessed value, the highest increase of the four municipalities that send their students to the school. Those four municipalities are Sea Bright, Oceanport, West Long Branch and Monmouth Beach.

In total, the $14.6 million budget would bring the tax rate up from 35.1 cents to 41.7 cents per $100 of assessed value for Sea Bright taxpayers.

Sea Bright Mayor Maria Fernandes has formed the School FormulaAdvisory Committee, which she commissioned to develop a long-term plan for securing state changes to the Thorough and Efficient formula that the state imposes on the regional districts.

The council wants the regional school funding to be based on per-pupil costs and not the current system, which is based on property values.

With the current system, Sea Bright pays $80,976 per student to educate 27 students, which means that Sea Bright's tax levy would be about $2.1 million, according to Councilwoman Dina Long.

McKenzie said the proposed budget for the lower school is tuition based.

"Unfortunately, there's one voting machine, and it appears that people don't distinguish between the tuitionbased and the really unjust budget we have at Shore Regional," McKenzie said of the Sea Bright BOE budget being voted down by residents instead of the Shore Regional spending plan.

For the Sea Bright BOE, the proposed $89,555 tax levy is an increase of 7.9 percent from last year, and the new tax rate would be 17.2 cents per $100 of assessed value.

The proposed rate of 17.2 cents per $100 of assessed property value represents a half-cent increase from the previous year.

For the owner of a home assessed at $750,000, the budget would mean an annual tax increase of about $40, or an additional $3.35 a month.

Since the Sea Bright BOE budget was voted down, the Borough Council will review the spending plan.

The council is not required to make any changes to the budget, though it can, if it chooses, reduce or even increase the amount of money the district plans to spend and raise through taxes.

If the school board believes the changes the council has made would too severely affect district operations, they may appeal the council's decision to the state Commissioner of Education, who would have the last word on any revisions to the budget.

Residents also voted to elect/re-elect members to the schools' various boards of education

In Rumson, Peter C. Jarck, of Ridge Road, Colleen P. O'Connor, Lennox Avenue, and Colleen Hodge,MonmouthAvenue, were all elected to three-year terms.

Jarck was running for the board for the first time after he was appointed to the board in October.

Voters elected Patricia Cassidy- Zimel, Washington Street, to finish the one-year left on the unexpired term that she was appointed to in December.

Voters in Shrewsbury Borough reelected incumbent board member Sue Patterson and elected newcomers John Smallwood and Vinnie Costa to threeyear terms.

In Sea Bright, incumbent board members Trude Arnette and Linda Boyce were re-elected for three-year terms. Newcomer Diana Burich was also elected to the nine-member board for a three-year term.