Hazlet keeps school taxes to nine-year low Voters twice rejected previous district budgets BY JAMIE ROMM Staff Writer       HAZLET - The school district has released a 2008-2009 budget that calls for the lowest tax increase the district has proposed this decade. The increase of 1.84 percent, or 5.3 cents per $100 of assessed value per resident is less than half of what the district proposed the previous year (10.8 ce... More ... Middletown schools budget to increase by 2.9 percent District will hold open forum on budget March 12 BY JAMIE ROMM Staff Writer       MIDDLETOWN - The Board of Education introduced the 2008-09 tentative budget at the Feb. 28 meeting. The proposed budget total is $140,558,950, an increase of 2.9 percent, or $4,615,463, from the 2007-08 budget. The proposed budget would amount to an increase for each taxpayer of 6.8 cents per $... More ...