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<\/a><\/p>\nBy Dan Israel\/Hudson County View<\/p>\n
They voted 5-2(2) to adopt the preliminary budget, with Trustees Hector Gonzalez and Melissa Godesky-Rodriguez voting no.\u00a0Board President Mary Jane Desmond and Trustee Miriam Bechay abstained.<\/p>\n
School Business Administrator Daniel Castles presented the $223,043,006 budget, $12.8 million more than last year\u2019s spending plan.<\/p>\n
According to Castles, the two biggest revenues streams come from the tax levy and state aid, $85 million and $135 million respectively.<\/p>\n
Anticipated revenues, including the tax levy but excluding state aid, total $85,652,469.<\/p>\n
The district is currently heavily dependent on state aid due to the 2018 New Jersey school funding reform law that saw the state fully fund the state aid portion of school districts, he said.<\/p>\n
However, as the law sunsets, the district will no longer \u201creceive jumps in revenue\u201d through state aid, instead more heavily depending on the local tax levy- likely indicating additional future increases.<\/p>\n
\u201c \u2026 Moving forward, that is going to be our revenue generator and we\u2019re going to have to live within those parameters because in a majority of years, you can only raise the revenue two percent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Bayonne\u2019s local fair share, or the amount that the state calculates that the local entity should fund for the school district, is a $133 million tax levy, according to Castles.<\/p>\n
The current tax levy is $76 million and the board is requesting an increase of nearly 12 percent by about $9 million to $85 million for next year- still $47 million short of fulfilling the district\u2019s fair share.<\/p>\n
Castles said that based on the average assessed property value, for a $500,000 home a taxpayer would pay $770 more for the year.<\/p>\n
He said this matters because the state is now looking at which districts are close to or at their fair share when deciding state portions of funding.<\/p>\n
On rising expenses, increases to health benefits to costs were a major contributor to the $250,735,936 in total appropriations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reason why we can adjust the tax levy, is because our health benefits are increasing by $12.79 million,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
According to Castles, the total budget is increasing by nearly $12.79 million from last year, calling it \u201cpretty much budget neutral.\u201d<\/p>\n
He further stated the district accomplished this through efforts such as the energy savings improvement plan that saved the district over $1 million and reduced maintenance costs, adding that 82 percent of the budget comes from salaries\/personnel.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always say that that\u2019s a good thing, because people teach people, things don\u2019t teach people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo being in that range is important, however, when you have 59 percent of your budget being salaries, if health benefits increase, obviously you\u2019re going to feel some pain with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Castles said the rest of the budget are small portions for instructional programs, supplies, consultants, programming, utilities, and things of that nature.<\/p>\n
Before the board voted to approve the budget, independent 2nd Ward council candidate<\/a> Omar Elgarhi said the city \u201cdeserves honesty, clarity, and fairness\u201d when being asked to pay more, demanding a further explanation of the 12 percent tax increase.<\/p>\n \u201cTaxpayers deserve more than a scary headline number. They deserve a clear explanation of what kind of increases are actually being discussed, how it was calculated, and how much of it is tied to rising healthcare costs,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n Elgarhi asserted that there was a conflict of interest of for Desmond, who is also the city\u2019s business administrator<\/a> and a mayoral candidate<\/a>, as well as the trustees who voted for her leadership<\/a>.<\/p>\n