Much of the 24.3% increase is a result of a growing staff, rising staff salaries and higher facilities costs, Superintendent Christine Johnson said Wednesday.
The tax levy for the owner of an average home would jump by $632, district Business Administrator Joyce Goode said. The $88.4 million budget is $14.8 million higher than the current school year’s budget of $73.6 million.
The 24.3% spike comes on the heels of a 6.3% increase — or roughly $115 per average homeowner — last year. Prior to this, the average tax levy increase over the previous five years was 5.1%, the superintendent said.
With the budget’s unanimous first passage Tuesday night, it is now sent to the county superintendent of schools for approval.
“This is quite a large tax increase, but as it’s broken down into the categories, you can see there’s basically no fluff in this budget at all and it’s truly streamlined,” Goode said.
The district’s growing enrollment and aging facilities have been key topics of concern for the Board of Education in recent years and were frequently referenced at Tuesday’s special Board of Education meeting as factors that inevitably impacted the budget.
While the district did not lose state aid for the first time in recent years, its $725,000 increase in state aid will be dedicated to special education and school choice, which allows non-Hoboken residents to attend Hoboken schools.
“Any increase is certainly better than any cuts in state aid, but the funds don’t cover the rises we are seeing in special education costs,” Johnson said. “They do not cover the cost that we were seeing associated with enrollment growth, and they certainly do not touch any of the cost that we are seeing that are associated with aging facilities.”
The budget includes a $1.6 million transfer of funds from the capital reserve to finance a project that would bring modular classrooms, or trailers, to Wallace Elementary School, to free up space at Brandt Elementary School, the superintendent said.
Choosing not to do the project would reduce the tax levy by 2.2%, but the district considers the project to be critical, Johnson said.
An addition of about 20 new staff positions represents 4.2% of the tax levy increase, and an increase in existing staff salaries and benefits represents another 7.6% of the tax levy increase, Johnson said.
“The original tax levy was a lot higher than this, so painfully we did reduce it down to this level,” Goode said, adding that the district will reduce it if any new funding becomes available during the budget process.
“I appreciate all the work that has been done on this budget,” said Board of Education President Ailene McGuirk. “School districts are not insulated from inflationary pressures or increases in utilities or insurance.”
District officials said they will continue to work on the budget in the coming days to see if it can be further trimmed.
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The proposed budget is either now or soon will be in the hands of the County Superintendent of Schools. Here is contact information should you have any questions or concerns:
Hudson County Office
Melissa Pearce, Interim Executive County Superintendent
Office Location:
Hudson County Office of Education
830 Bergen Avenue
Suite 7B
Jersey City, NJ 07306-4507
Directions
Phone: (201) 369-5290
Fax: (201) 369-5288
