Board Passes Budget with 4% Tax Hike

(Updated)

The Board of Education voted 7-1 to pass a budget totaling over $52 million that will raise taxes about $100 for the average homeowner.

The spending plan will result in 33 layoffs, and several sports programs are being eliminated, including all freshman sports, winter track, competition cheerleading, swimming, and fall weight training.  The district also cut summer school and the adult high school.

While newspaper accounts indicate teachers and staff in surrounding districts are taking pay freezes, the South Plainfield unions have not made similar concessions.  Nor have they indicated a willingness to discuss the option.

The budget would have raised taxes by about $140, but residents will benefit from an overbilling two years ago that reduces the increase by $40.  According to Superintendent Jose Negron, the money from the overbilling will be returned to taxpayers through an adjustment.

Board President Jim Giannakis called the tax hike "reasonable," especially given the budget constraints created by state aid reductions.  Facing an estimated $10 billion budget gap, the state cut aid to most school districts by about five percent of their budgets.  For South Plainfield that meant a $2.8 million cut.  The district made up for part of the cut by using $1.2 million of its surplus and $300,000 from its emergency reserve to offset the loss.

But not everyone favored the plan.  Board member Debbie Boyle criticized the lack of information from administrators and said she could not support a 4% tax increase when people were losing their jobs.  She also asked the Board's unions to agree to a wage freeze, saying she had made the same request a week earlier and that none had taken the offer.

Boyle also recommended an activity fee as an option to cutting sports programs.  She said the fee would allow the programs to continue, as would having players fundraise to offset the price of uniforms and other costs.

Board member Bob Jones, who cast the lone dissenting vote, said he agreed with Boyle's suggestions and asked for more cuts to administration.  Both he and Boyle said they had spent hours going over the budget for cost reductions that would not affect education.  Jones also criticized the decision not to include in the budget a $400,000 savings that results from a new law requiring employees to contribute 1.5% of their salaries to offset health-insurance costs.

Jones also said there would be a $200,000 savings by switching health insurance providers.  Board Vice President Pio Pennisi, however, called these savings "uncertain," saying they might be available at a later time but could not be counted on now.

Other members took a different  position.  Carol Byrne, who was re-elected to the Board last year, said the district was in a tough spot and the board was doing the best it could in a bad situation.  She said the board had been responsible.

While board members often disagreed, the tone was mostly civil, with the only major flash-point occurring when Negron said to applause that he would be willing to take a pay freeze.  Boyle, who chairs the Board's negotiations committee, questioned the sincerity of his offer, asking him whether he meant freezing his current contract's salary or freezing it as part of a renegotiated contract.  Negron responded by saying he would only be willing to negotiate the freeze as part of a new contract.