South Brunswick District Adopts Revised Budget With Tax Increase

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ — The South Brunswick School District held a public hearing of the revised budget last week.

Although the district adopted the $170 million budget for the 2024-25 school year in May they had to revise the budget after Gov. Phil Murphy signed two bills as the solution for school districts facing steep cuts because of funding reductions.

Under the bills, 45 percent of the aid that the district lost was returned to them and allowed it flexibility in reworking, adopting and submitting the budget.

The new $175 million budget includes an operating budget of $158 million, a special programs fund of $10 million and a debt service fund of $6.8 million.

With the funds coming in the school district will be able to bring back staff for positions that were initially on the chopping block. At least 67 staff positions were set to be eliminated earlier.

During the meeting, Superintendent Scott Feder recommended to the Board of Education that they utilize the bill to the maximum and increase the district’s revenue for “financial stability.” The superintendent proposed an increase of 8.9 percent in tax levy.

This includes the 2.78 percent earlier adopted by the BOE, plus the sum of state aid lost from 2020-21 to the present.

“If you ask why we recommend this, it’s because it is not the massive impact that it sounds like it could be,” Feder said. “When you increase the revenue it does not equate to a direct increase in taxes

For an average home assessed at $200,000, the tax impact will be $239. Feder noted that in eight years, the residents saw the school portion of their taxes increase by only $86 for an average home.

The district is short of about $7 million this year than they are used to having.

“In the last seven years we are down almost $30 million,” Feder said.

The recommendation was made to improve school programs, maintain class size and avoid “catastrophic cuts” in the coming year. In the revised budget, the district will maintain the fees it imposed for the 2024-25 school year, but will not add anything new.

The district will also be dropping $5 million in debt in July 2025, resulting in a tax decrease for residents, Feder pointed out.

You can watch the entire presentation here.

All board members voted to adopt the budget, except Julie Ferrera, who voted no.

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