BY MICHAEL ACKER
Staff Writer

HELMETTA - Borough officials will not cut the defeated school budget this year, but will instead make a series of recommendations to the Board of Education in the interest of saving money.

Residents turned down the $3.98 million school budget for 2007-08 by a margin of just five votes on April 17. The vote was 38-33, with just 5 percent of registered voters casting ballots.

The budget calls for a stable tax levy, meaning it would not cause an increase in the tax levy, though some residents may see taxes increase or decrease based on the borough's revaluation.

"I am surprised that only 5 percent of our voters came out to vote," Mayor Nancy Martin told the Sentinel. "I imagine that a lot of the voters didn't come out because there is no increase in the levy."

School Business Administrator Brian Savage said that increased state aid and lower special education costs allowed the board to hold the tax levy at just under $3 million.

When the 2006-07 school budget failed a year ago, Martin and the Borough Council found $141,000 to cut, amounting to 23 cents on the tax rate. That budget failed by a vote of 190-23.

The council also asked the Board of Education last year to have all students reregistered to ensure they actually live in town, since Helmetta pays tuition for each student it sends to Spotswood. According to Martin, not all students were reregistered.

"We are this year asking that they complete this reregistration and request a certification to be sent out on a yearly basis to all parents confirming the children and their attendance in the Spotswood school system," Martin said. "We also want to have a quarterly check with Spotswood and the registered children so we are paying tuition for only Helmetta children."

Helmetta currently pays for 279 students to attend Spotswood's schools, since Helmetta has no schools of its own.

"We want to monitor who lives in the borough," Martin said, "and make sure our tax dollars go to our children."

The council will also recommend that the school board apply for a grant to offset the costs related to a medical nurse and aides, which she said was not done for the current school year.

Other recommendations are that the board seek interlocal agreements with the surrounding school districts to provide efficient transportation for students for possible cost savings, and that the board's employees receive no more than a 3 percent salary increase from year to year.

"Borough employees receive only a 3 percent increase for cost of living," she said, noting that school employees should receive the same.