Hillsborough Residents Pack School Board Meeting, Share Concerns Over Tax Levy Increase

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — It was a packed house at the Monday night Hillsborough Board of Education(BOE) meeting, with many in attendance speaking out about the spike in their recent tax bill.

"I just want to put the tax increase in perspective. It’s costing me one month's Social Security payment. Everybody who is on a fixed budget in this town just got beaten over the head by a hammer by five people rather than have a referendum by the people," said resident Marc Ehrenkrantz.

In a split decision, the BOE voted on April 28 to take advantage of the state's Tax Incentive Aid option and approve the increase of the local tax levy by up to $22.9 million.

The approval meant the average house in Hillsborough, valued at $594,089, would see a tax increase to $8,645. The average house in Millstone, valued at $409,598, would see a tax increase to $4,969 for the 2025-26 school year.

The Tax Incentive Aid option allowed the district to get closer to adequacy by raising the general fund tax levy by $20 million, and they will receive an additional one-time $1 million in state aid for the next school year.

"People are not coming into Hillsborough. People are actually moving out of Hillsborough because of tax hikes," said resident Mohammad Khan, who noted that his neighbor just moved away.

While many residents were upset with the hike, there were some who favored the Board's decision.

"I would like to speak in favor of the recent increase in taxes to support the Hillsborough Township public schools. Why? Because keeping a strong school system in Hillsborough is the right thing to do from both a civic and financial point of view," said resident Josh Gamse. "We've been getting cuts in state funding and I encourage everyone to talk to their state representatives about this problem and to vote this in November. But in the meantime, we need to fill the gap and keep the schools fully funded."

Board members assured the public that the decision to raise the tax levy was not taken lightly by anyone.

Board member Jane Staats asked the public not to make assumptions about board members and their decision to vote a certain way.

"For those people who were not in favor of this increase, that doesn’t mean they don't like the schools, they don’t support students. People are really in a hard place. So that’s where they’re coming from. It's not because they don’t like students," said Staats. "On the other hand, people who did vote for it, that doesn’t mean they are totally disregarding people who are struggling. It was a hard decision for all of us to make, and it ended up being a big increase that is going to be a hardship for a lot of people."

The April 28 vote came down to five in favor (Cassandra Kragh, Laning-Beder, Danny Lee, Cynthia Nurse, and Paul Marini) of the increase and four against (Joel Davis, Elaine Jackson, Jane Staats, and Jean Trujillo).

"Those who voted no care equally about this district. It's a different approach to funding. The goal is and the hope that this stabilizes the district for quite some time and allows us to plan for the future, and hopefully never have to go through this again," said Board President Paul Marini. "The State told us this is a one-time opportunity, so that kind of put us on it a little bit to make this decision. So who knows if that is true or not, but that was the message we were given."

• Related: Hillsborough Approves School Tax Levy Increase Of $22.9M

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