Post by admin on Mar 17, 2009 15:49:45 GMT -5
www.app.com/article/20090317/NEWS01/903170339/1285/LOCAL09
FREEHOLD — The Freehold Board of Education introduced a budget Monday that could raise the school tax rate by more than 2 cents for every $100 of assessed property value.
School board members introduced a $20 million budget for the 2009-10 school year that includes operating expenses, grants and entitlements and the district's debt service obligations. The budget will now be submitted to Monmouth County's executive schools superintendent, Carole Knopp Morris, for approval.
A public hearing on the budget has been scheduled for 7 p.m. March 30 in the cafetorium of the Park Avenue Complex, at 280 Park Ave. The board is expected to approve a budget that night, which could differ from the tentative budget adopted Monday.
Changes are possible, especially because the district is in contract negotiations with its employee unions, said the district's business administrator, Patrick DeGeorge. Residents will vote April 21 on the final tax levy - the amount to be raised through taxation - for the operating budget.
DeGeorge focused Monday on the changes to that budget.
The proposed operating budget for 2009-10 is approximately $17.4 million, up about $750,000 from this school year's budget, DeGeorge told board members and the small public audience assembled.
Part of that increase is an extra $439,232 in aid included in the state budget Gov. Jon S. Corzine introduced last week, DeGeorge said. Freehold was one of 171 school districts statewide to be promised additional funding.
Freehold is set to receive $9.2 million in direct aid from the state, a bump of five percent for the district.
Property owners would be asked to pay about $8 million in taxes to fund the operating budget, a jump of roughly $219,000, DeGeorge said.
The tax rate for the operating budget would increase by 2.4 cents for every $100 of assessed property value, DeGeorge said.
The average homeowner - who has a house assessed at $259,676 - would be billed about $62 more in taxes to pay for the operating budget.
The district also has proposed a debt service budget of $771,677. The amount to be raised through taxes would be $611,843. Further details on this levy were not provided Monday.
Grants and entitlements would make up about $1.9 million of the total proposed budget.
Kim Predham: (732) 308-7752 or kpredham@app.com
FREEHOLD — The Freehold Board of Education introduced a budget Monday that could raise the school tax rate by more than 2 cents for every $100 of assessed property value.
School board members introduced a $20 million budget for the 2009-10 school year that includes operating expenses, grants and entitlements and the district's debt service obligations. The budget will now be submitted to Monmouth County's executive schools superintendent, Carole Knopp Morris, for approval.
A public hearing on the budget has been scheduled for 7 p.m. March 30 in the cafetorium of the Park Avenue Complex, at 280 Park Ave. The board is expected to approve a budget that night, which could differ from the tentative budget adopted Monday.
Changes are possible, especially because the district is in contract negotiations with its employee unions, said the district's business administrator, Patrick DeGeorge. Residents will vote April 21 on the final tax levy - the amount to be raised through taxation - for the operating budget.
DeGeorge focused Monday on the changes to that budget.
The proposed operating budget for 2009-10 is approximately $17.4 million, up about $750,000 from this school year's budget, DeGeorge told board members and the small public audience assembled.
Part of that increase is an extra $439,232 in aid included in the state budget Gov. Jon S. Corzine introduced last week, DeGeorge said. Freehold was one of 171 school districts statewide to be promised additional funding.
Freehold is set to receive $9.2 million in direct aid from the state, a bump of five percent for the district.
Property owners would be asked to pay about $8 million in taxes to fund the operating budget, a jump of roughly $219,000, DeGeorge said.
The tax rate for the operating budget would increase by 2.4 cents for every $100 of assessed property value, DeGeorge said.
The average homeowner - who has a house assessed at $259,676 - would be billed about $62 more in taxes to pay for the operating budget.
The district also has proposed a debt service budget of $771,677. The amount to be raised through taxes would be $611,843. Further details on this levy were not provided Monday.
Grants and entitlements would make up about $1.9 million of the total proposed budget.
Kim Predham: (732) 308-7752 or kpredham@app.com