Parsippany Schools Budget Includes Tax Increase For 2024/25

PARSIPPANY, NJ — As the Board of Education prepares to finalize next school year's budget, members said they are not expecting any funding to come in from the three approved PILOT projects in Parsippany.

The PILOT program, standing for "payments in lieu of taxes," encourages developers to build on undesired sites by giving them exemptions from traditional property taxes for a set period of time — in this case, a 30-year term.

At a meeting last Thursday, President Andy Choffo also said he has not heard from Mayor James Barberio about meeting to discuss how the approved developments will affect the district.

"I don't know that there's much more that we can do to encourage an open dialogue between the two major elected bodies of this town to talk about this issue," Choffo said.

Board members spoke of the need to increase space in classrooms, and the impact of the town's growing population on school resources, and trustee Tim Berrios said that future boards "will have to make very difficult choices" without funding that matches the district needs.

In New Jersey, school districts are limited to a 2 percent property tax increase without voter approval, so the trustees said any loss of funding will impact students. The district's proposed $182 million spending plan includes an annual tax increase of $161.38 for the average assessed home in Parsippany ($313,513) according to board documents.

Local taxes make up about 86 percent of revenue sources for the district, totaling about $156,232 of the proposed 2024/25 budget.

Capital improvements included in the budget are roof replacements at Littleton and Mount Tabor, window replacements at the high school, technology infrastructure upgrades, and classroom renovation costs.

The Board of Education will have a public hearing on the budget at the April 25 meeting, which begins at 6 p.m. at Parsippany Hills High School. Members are likely to adopt the spending plan at this meeting, with any alterations to items within the budget — the total amount cannot change.

The board is also holding an executive session at 5 p.m., before the regular meeting.

Click here to see the tentative budget presentation that Superintendent Dr. Robert Sutter and Interim Business Administrator Robin Tedesco shared in March.