At its meeting on Tuesday, March 17, 2015, the North Hunterdon-Voorhees Regional High School District Board of Education adopted its preliminary budget for the 2015-2016 school year. The 2015-2016 budget includes a reduction to debt service and no increase to the local tax levy for the general fund.
Roger Straight, Chairperson of the Board’s Finance Committee, reported that “the budget includes one-time tax relief of $400,000 to reduce the debt service tax levy.”
Straight further reported that the $400,000 allocation is associated with rebates the district received in the 2013-2014 school year for the implementation of projects in the Energy Savings Improvement Plan.
The Board of Education unanimously adopted the preliminary 2015-2016 budget with a local tax levy of $47,048,907 for the general fund and $393,750 for debt service. The local tax levy for the general fund remains unchanged from the 2014-2015 budget. Without the $400,000 allocation, debt service would have been $793,750. The last payment for the current debt service will be made in the 2016-2017 school year.
Based on the adopted preliminary 2015-2016 budget, the estimated high school tax will be reduced for seven out of the twelve municipalities in the regional high school district (Town of Clinton, Franklin Township, Glen Gardner, High Bridge, Lebanon Borough, Tewksbury Township and Union Township). The state’s school funding tax formula is calculated based on equalized value of taxable property in each municipality, the regional high school enrollment, and the elementary school enrollment.
“The district has prepared a responsible budget, which seeks to balance the financial accountability to our taxpayers while still providing a thorough and efficient education for our students,” said Dr. John Kulick, President of the Board of Education.
The district’s preliminary budget will be sent to the Executive County Superintendent for approval. The public hearing on the final 2015-2016 budget is scheduled for Tuesday, April 28, 2015 at 7:00pm in the district administration office.