Montclair Tax Hike Possible Under Proposal To Fix School Budget Gap

MONTCLAIR, NJ — Montclair taxpayers would be asked to bail out the town’s cash-strapped school district under a proposed special referendum – but local voters would have to give the plan a thumbs-up first.

The Montclair Public School District is facing a looming budget gap that has now swelled to $19.6 million. The shortfall is spread between two separate budgets: the 2024-2025 budget contains a deficit of $12.6 million, and the 2025-2026 budget has a deficit of $7 million, Superintendent Ruth Turner recently explained.

The superintendent said that a state official hasn’t found evidence of fraud. “It is really incompetence, bad accounting and administration’s inability to say no,” she told The Montclair Pod.

Turner previously said that after a direct appeal for help, the Township of Montclair has declined to provide any financial support to the school district.

Turner and interim school business administrator, Dana Sullivan, recently announced they inherited the tricky financial situation after taking over their jobs on July 1.

PUTTING IT ON THE BALLOT

On Tuesday, the Montclair Board of Education is scheduled to vote on a proposal to place two public questions before local voters in a special election, which would be held on Dec. 9.

The first question would raise an additional $12.6 million from local taxpayers for the 2024-2025 school year. Approval of these extra taxes would result in a one-time increase to the district’s tax levy – estimated at $1,117 for an average Montclair home assessed at $639,000, Montclair Local reported.

The second question would raise an additional $7.6 million for the 2025-2026 school year, which would result in a permanent increase to the district’s tax levy of $621 for the average homeowners. It would pay for items such as:

• “Maintaining teachers and instructional assistants to avoid increased class sizes and program elimination”
• “Maintain security in schools”
• “Maintain facilities”
• “Maintain courtesy busing and protect the magnet school system”
• “Maintain curricular, athletics, and extracurricular activities that threaten to be eliminated”
• “Conduct a forensic audit of the 2024-2025 financial records and update the accounting software”

The Montclair Public School District will have to accept a state loan if the board doesn't approve a referendum, or local voters reject it. A loan would also come with a state financial monitor – a fate that other Essex County school districts have also encountered over the past decade.

• See Related: NJ Appoints State Monitor In Nutley Schools Amid Financial Woes
• See Related: State Monitor Removed From Belleville Schools, Officials Cheer

According to the superintendent, state aid would only cover the 2024-2025 school year – which would still leave the district on the hook for $7 million worth of cuts in the current spending plan.

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