Red Bank Board of Education Approves Tentative Budget, Tax Increase

The Red Bank Board of Education approved its tentative budget Tuesday night for 2011-12 and along with it a likely tax increase and probable reductions in its teaching staff.

The budget was developed with the belief that state funding will remain flat for the upcoming year. An official budget will not be approved until final state aid figures are released by Gov. Chris Christie’s office in the next two days, though barring an increase in aid to the district, which is unlikely, the tentative budget and it’s 1.9 percent increase will stay.

Approved by a unanimous 8-0 vote, the tentative budget for the district is $18.918 million. Of that total, $12.268 million will be raised through taxes, an increase of more than $200,000 from last year’s tax levy.

Business Administrator Anne Darrow said the tax increase is less than a penny per $100 of assessed value, and keeps the district from exceeding Christie’s imposed 2-percent cap.

A family with a home valued at $405,522 – the average for the area – will pay an additional $40.38 on their property tax bill should the tentative budget’s tax increase remain.

Superintendent Laura Morana said the district has done all it can in recent years to keep the budget level, but flat aid, coupled with rising expenses, including staff health benefits, has made that nearly impossible.

“We have had to do a great deal of reassessment to determine where we are and where we need to be,” she said during her budget presentation at Red Bank Primary School.

The flat aid and spending cap will, if no alternatives are found, likely cost several teachers to lose their jobs. Based on budget projections, the district will have to cut two teaching positions as well as two instructional assistant jobs.

Those jobs are safe, for now. Trimming staff won’t be required until the district approves its actual budget in March.

Morana said the district worked on the budget from zero, adding costs as they went and looking at places to trim money. Some of the cuts Red Bank is prepared to make are eliminating newspaper ads, and compensation for professional memberships and professional development for its teachers.

Darrow said several maintenance issues are also being put on hold as the growing list of jobs that need to be taken care of at facilities throughout the district becomes “instead of” rather than “in addition to.”

Morana is hoping the budget and its cuts don’t disrupt education.

“We wanted the least impact at the classroom level so we had to make sacrifices in other areas,” she said.