Although school officials faced a fairly friendly audience when going over the details of the 2001-2002 school budget at the Board of Education’s March 29 meeting, they may have a harder time with the voters on April 17 as they look at the biggest tax increase in a decade.
The $1.4 million increase in the tax levy of this year’s $19 million budget is the biggest attempted jump in a single year since the voters rejected a similar request for the 1993-94 school year. This year’s increase, if passed, would be the largest tax outlay by voters since before 1990.
If the budget is passed, taxes will increase by $72.85 on the average home assessed at $155,000.
Over the last two years, taxpayers have faced increases of $52 each year on the average home as the schools sought to perform many of the repairs they had initially hoped to bond for. Although school officials deny that they have used lease purchasing agreements to circumvent voters after a $10.5 million bond referendum failed in 1995, increases in yearly budget requests rose sharply after school officials sought to complete many of the capital improvements the 1995 bond issue was designed to fund.
Lease-purchase agreements allow the board to make large purchases without seeking voter approval through a bond referendum. The downside of these, however, is that the bill must be paid over a much shorter period up to five years and must be budgeted. School officials said lease-purchase agreements in the 2001-2002 budget amount to $120,000, covering no repairs, but the purchase of furniture, textbooks and computers.
Since 1992-93, when the school budget actually declined at the height of a national economic depression, school budgets have risen steadily at an average of between $800,000 to $1 million per year, resulting in increase of more than $400 for schools on the average home’s yearly tax bill over the eight year span, boosting the school tax from about $700 in 1992 to $1,157 last year. This year’s $72.85 increase is the single largest increase since 1990.
Board member Paul Amico, during an interview after the March 29 meeting, said numerous factors attributed to the hefty increases, including continually-rising student enrollment and state legislation that has mandated school districts to take on more duties than in the past, such as new programs for handicapped pre-kindergarten children.
During the presentation, Board Member Michael Pesci said utility costs increased by $107,000 this year, despite the school district’s converting from an all electrical heat and air conditioning system at the high school to one powered by gas.
“We know we saved a lot of money by the conversion,” he said. “But we don’t know exactly how much yet.” Among the increases in this year’s budget is $62,000 for replacement of vehicles, $32,000 for special education tuition, and $100,000 for repairs to the track and tennis courts.
Board member Edward Rittberg warned that if the board allowed the track to deteriorate too much, it could have dire consequences for the school’s sporting events. He said that league officials have been known to prohibit competition if facilities don’t come up to stand certain standards. One year, this resulted in the closing of Kane Stadium and the forcing of the school teams to play their entire schedule at other schools.
Salaries make up the largest part of new budget
The 2001-2002 budget shows an increase of $215,600 to cover the cost of hiring teachers to fill 5.6 full-time shifts. Schools superintendent Constantino Scerbo said this includes shifts in personnel to cover the expansion of the two elementary schools as well as requirements set by the state’s core curriculum standards, and will help address needs in world language studies and an additional technology specialist for the elementary schools, a part time social studies teacher, and teachers for English and math at the high school and middle school.
Overall, however, board officials said increases in teachers’ salaries this year are the lowest in three years.
While salaries remained the single largest increase in this year’s budget – accounting for an increase of $652,000 – board member Michael Pesci said the biggest unexpected increase came in at $318,000 for medical insurance coverage for school employees.
Raises given to top administrators drew fire this year, and have inspired one candidate for this year’s board election to ask voters to reject this budget.
But Board Member Doug MacCormack said the district did away with two paid consultants that it had previously had, releasing Peter McCann and former principal William Koenig. Their combined salaries of $150,000 a year went towards these raises, and the board did not hire a curriculum specialist even though money had been put in the budget for the position.
“We’ve made the principals do the work,” MacCormack said.
These reductions as well as retirements from the school resulted in a saving of $245,000 in this year’s budget. MacCormack said salaries for principals were in the middle range of what principals earn elsewhere in the state, reflecting the district’s need to attract and keep qualified people in those positions.
The state average for principals last year – according to the state Department of Education – is $92,227, and for superintendents, $111,431.
While these raises bring Secaucus officials significantly above the state average, MacCormack said the Secaucus salaries do not have any hidden perks, offered by many other school districts.
“What you see is what you get,” MacCormack said. “We don’t have longevity. The principals and supervisors don’t get payment for extra work. In fact, our principals do many things as part of their salary that are done by assistants in other districts.”
Tom Troyer, a candidate for the board this year, asked at the March 29 meeting about the raises. He later said he is concerned about the people with fixed incomes such as the town’s senior citizens, who have to pay more in taxes to cover the raises.
MacCormack, in reaction to Troyer’s campaign literature, told the crowd at the budget presentation that a vote against the contract will not reduce the salaries.
“If this budget goes down, no salaries will change, we will be forced to cut classes and teachers, the salaries will remain the same,” he said. “We have no more administrators to get rid of, we cannot get rid of a principal. But if we have to get rid of teachers that means classroom sizes will get bigger and kids will be affected. A vote against this budget is a vote against kids.”
What the average taxpayer paid in the year 2000.
Although municipal taxes for Secaucus tend to be the lowest in Hudson County, school, county and other taxes contribute to the overall tax bill. The average homeowner with a house valued at $155,000 paid $4,006 in 2000. A breakdown of this is as follows.
• Municipal taxes: $1,157.85
• County tax: $1,137.70
• School tax: $1,137.70
• Sewerage tax: $302.25
• Hudson County vocational school: $105.40
• Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission: $165.85.