Council approves school budget voters rejected
District budget raises tax rate by a half cent
BY MELISSA KARSH Staff Writer

SEA BRIGHT - The Borough Council unanimously approved the 2008-09 school budget in Sea Bright after it was voted down by residents April 15.

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. The $1.19 million spending plan increased 7.9 percent from last year.

At the May 6 meeting, the Borough Council voted to approve the proposed $898,952 tax levy.

"The mayor and council find that the budget submitted to the voters should not be modified and that the original budget amount on the ballot should be so certified and will provide a thorough and efficient education for the students of Sea Bright," states the resolution approved by council members.

Councilman William J. Keeler did not vote on the resolution, because he was not present at the May 6 meeting.

The resolution also states that the mayor and councilmet with the Sea Bright Board of Education (BOE) and consulted on the budget before rendering their decision.

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

The council was not required to make any changes to the budget, although it had the authority to reduce or increase the amount of money the district plans to spend and raise through taxes.

If the council had made changes that the school board deemed would severely affect district operations, the board had the option of appealing the council's decision to the state commissioner of education, who would have the last word on any revisions to the budget.

Sea Bright is a nonoperating 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.

The proposed $898,952 tax levy is an increase of $34,575 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.

The proposed budget for the lower school is tuition based, according to BOE officials.

Sea Bright BOE officials have said previously they were disappointed that the budget did not pass and felt it was a reaction to the Shore Regional High School budget, which called for a 6-cent increase in the borough tax rate.

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 regional school 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 Formula Advisory 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.