BOE Presents 2014-15 Budget

The second, and last, of 2014-15 Roselle Park School District budget presentations was given by the Board Of Education (BOE) on April 22nd at the Roselle Park Middle School (RPMS).

The $32,514,501.00 total budget is a 3.9% increase from last year with the local tax levy portion increasing 7.4%. The local tax levy is the amount paid by local residents and businesses through property taxes. Even though there is a 2% cap on the increase that the BOE can budget for annually without having any amount over that cap be voted on by residents, the local tax levy includes – among other things – that increase ($357,105.46) plus an adjustment on the previous year’s levy weighted for enrollment ($17,901,148.00), an adjustments for health care costs ($169,960), and an adjustment for banked cap ($754,721).

The last adjustment – banked cap – is money that school districts can place on reserve that can be used within three years from any amount under the 2% cap that was not taxed in previous years.

Most revenues collected by the district remained constant with the only increases coming from collection of taxes, other restricted miscellaneous revenue, and funds provided by the state for PARCC Readiness and Per Pupil Growth. PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness of Common Core) is the new testing standard the state and school district. The amount of other State Aid, what the BOE Business Administrator Sue Guercio remarked New Jersey Governor Chris Christie claimed the state increased aid throughout the state, remained one dollar.

The most significant increase in the budget comes from a $570,104 increase (15%) in health & dental insurance. Other significant increases are $150,000 for lease purchases (44.7%), $121,285 for contracted services and repairs (27.8%), $111,500 for transportation costs (32%), and $87,475 for the matching of IDEA/NCLB grants (12.6%). Lease purchase costs are to be used for the purchase of 300 new computers, new literacy textbooks for elementary and middle school students, a new boiler, the Roselle Park High School auditorium renovation, and furniture for classrooms including the new full-day kindergarten.

There were significant decreases in costs for FICA/PERS/Unemployment, utilities, phone, Special Education, and Special Services related to Special Education. The last two reduced costs by almost $250,000. The BOE stated this was due to providing such services in the district as opposed to providing them either out-of-ditrict or through outside contractors.

The Board discussed and accepted ideas on how to cut costs such as purchasing a new school bus to cut down on transportation, hiring a grant writer, and discussing use of other locations in the borough to address expansion of programs and classes.

The school portion of property taxes is $4,390.10 in 2014 for a household assessed at $65,000. This is a $206.70 increase from 2013’s $4,183.40 school portion of property taxes.

The 2014-15 school district have its Public Hearing at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 29th at the RPMS auditorium. This will allow residents to provide their input on not only the budget in total but also on decisions where to use budgeted funds, including full-day kindergarten.

The budget will be voted on by the BOE on May 6th. If the budget is not approved, the Board has until May 14th to come up with a budget that they can agree on. The public cannot vote on the school budget unless it is over the 2% tax levy increase due to changes agreed to by the BOE – as well as other districts throughout the state – to have their elections moved to November. Even then, voters can only have a say in any amount over the 2% and not the entire budget.

Below is a chart of both the expense and revenue side of budget items.

Expenditures

Revenues