J'burg board proposes 10-cent school tax hike

JAMESBURG - A budget that originally included a 4-cent tax rate increase went up to a 10-cent hike after the Board of Education upgraded the curriculum.

The board decided to allocate additional funding before adopting the budget last month because of necessary curriculum changes, as well as to pay for new textbooks and upgraded computers, school Business Administrator Thomas Reynolds said. All told, the board added about $148,000 to the budget, causing the tax rate to spike up 6 cents.

As it stands, the budget for the 2008-09 school year is roughly $12,265,000, including a $6.55 million tax levy for the general fund of the budget.

The school district is receiving about $4,800,000 in total state aid for this budget, Reynolds said.

If approved by voters next week, the school tax rate would rise from about $2.73 to roughly $2.83 per $100 of assessed valuation, he said. That means the owner of property assessed at the borough average of $124,000 would pay $124 more in school taxes this year.

Reynolds said the 10-cent increase is driven by the curriculumand computer upgrades, as well as increases in employee salaries and benefits, transportation, energy and special education costs. In addition, Jamesburg, a K-8 district, will pay higher tuition rates to send students to Monroe Township High School.

"All the usual suspects," Reynolds said.

In addition, the district added teachers for after-school art and chorus classes. Each will be paid a "nominal stipend" to run the extracurricular classes. The total stipend costs amount to $3,600 in the budget.

The new textbooks added about $46,000 to the budget increase, while the computer software added another $30,000 or so, Reynolds said. There were no cuts or additions made to the rest of the staff, he said.