Future Referendum Highlighted In Madison Superintendent Coffee

MADISON, NJ — An update on the nearly $80 million bond referendum that is expected to go before the Madison public early next year was provided at the recent Superintendent's Coffee meeting.

According to Mark Schwarz, Superintendent of Madison Schools, a previous facilities assessment confirmed a slew of non-negotiable project priorities, the majority of which were related to failing infrastructure.

"You know that we have a great deal of need within the schools. There are certain areas where things are wonderful… But some of our other spaces are just quite abysmal," Schwarz said.

Among the necessary repairs are the roof at Madison High School and the removal of asbestos, which has been found in many spaces throughout the district.

The three-question referendum was first proposed by the school board earlier this fall and is expected to go before the public sometime in March.

According to Schwarz, the district requires the referendum in order to afford the necessary facility improvements.

"If we don't have some sort of referendum initiative, then our tax payers are going to bear the full cost of everything that we do, we won't be able to access any state matched funding," Schwarz said.

The Madison Public School's annual budget is only allowed to increase by two percent each year, making it essentially impossible for the district to afford the improvements on their own. With the referendum, the district is expected to receive up to 34 percent of matched state funding.

Additionally, with the current Madison school budget, it would be impossible to support the district's current programs while allocating the necessary funds to facilities, which typically receive one of the smallest portions of the budget.

"We developed this referendum process in an effort to be responsible, to provide the community with an opportunity to vote on a structured order of questions," Schwarz said.

The future referendum questions will provide tiered options to taxpayers:

• Option 1: Approve questions 1, 2 and 3
• Option 2: Approve questions 1 and 2
• Option 3: Approve question 1
• Option 4: Reject all questions (may result in a reduction of services)

According to Madison Public Schools Business Administrator Danielle Mancuso, the school district is still waiting for state approval on the referendum, with the decision expected within the first week of December.

The final approval will also clarify how much the referendum will affect all taxpayers in the borough.

"We anticipate those letters around December and then we will release more information regarding tax impact. For now, we have said that it is going to be about $100 per every $10 million and we will get more detailed information once we know exactly how much the state will be contributing," Mancuso said.