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 $100 of property value. That would amount to a $136 annual school tax increase, or $11.33 per month more, for a house assessed at $200,000. The tax increase is an estimate pending final certification of the ratable by Monmouth County. According to the preliminary budget, state aid would be up a little over 2 percent or $457,225. The surplus appropriated to fund the budget is $2,135,879 up from $2,091,125 from the previous year. According to Business Administrator William Doering, there is an issue with the surplus amount. "Our concern here is that we will not be able to continue to generate the levels of surplus that we have been able to for a few years now," Doering said. "The provisions of S-1701 continue to take away our ability to utilize the surplus in a prudent manner to avoid sharp tax increases or decreases from year to year." Doering was referring to legislation, S-1701, that capped increases in school budgets at 2.5 percent annually and that regulates surplus and increases. He said there will be a $200,000 decrease from the previous year in miscellaneous revenue that is being credited due to interest rates plummeting. The ratable base in Middletown for 2008 is estimated to go up approximately 0.8 percent from the prior year, or $39.2 million. The debt service for the budget is substantially the same as the prior year, with only a slight decrease of 1/10th of a cent that will be used to pay for bonds approved in previous referendums, Doering said. There are six proposed categories of additions in the budget. The board is considering an addition of $332,500 including benefits toward two new elementary reading specialists, one new student club stipend for each high school and middle school and two new elementary world language teachers. "We feel our current world language program is not meeting our students' needs," Superintendent Karen Bilbao said. "By adding new staff members we can increase the program to more than once a week so that the teachers aren't spending half of their period reinforcing the previous week. "The spending plan provides for a $120,000 increase in the technology budget for district priorities that is a planned increase that occurs every year to keep the technology up to date, according to Doering. Increases of $20,000 will be added to the hockey program's funding. Transportation costs would rise by $156,000 to include new bus routes for a shuttle for the work-study program. "We have had an increase in our internship programs," Bilbao said. "We need to get these kids to their internships and this increase will go toward that goal." The budgets of all 17 schools will increase by 4 percent for a total of $59,578. The proposed budget reflects a total salary increase of $2,582,156, or 3 percent, due to a number of factors including contractual salary increases, anticipated contractual settlement increases, as well as the new positions and stipends proposed for the new budget. The Middletown School District has budgeted for an increase in employee benefits of $1,053,189, or 4.9 percent. The primary reason for this increase, according to Doering, is the state's required increase for PERS pension costs. The health insurance budget would increase $360,185, or 1.74 percent. Transportation has a budgeted increase of $258,609, or 2.7 percent, which is attributed to renewal costs for the existing routes and budgeted costs for the four new routes. Curriculum is budgeted at 3,367.917, the same dollar total as the previous year with possible reallocation between staff development, supplies, textbooks and other equipment. The capital lease principal and interest would increase by $3,060 or 0.1 percent. This includes the existing capital leases as well as capital leases for the elementary HVAC project and high school north synthetic turf. Regarding the state's new administrative cost limitations the regional threshold is $1,663 per pupil. For the Middletown School District, the budget as proposed provides a $1,246 cost per pupil, which is $417 less than last year. "We are in a very good financial state," Bilbao said. "Compared to some of the problems that other districts are having with having to close schools and cut programs we are in a good situation." The budget passed on a first hearing by a 7-2 vote, with Joan Minnuies and Leonora Caminiti as the no votes. "If we are including funding for our football field construction and a construction official in our budget, I just can't vote for this budget," Minnuies said. "I have to vote no." There will be a meeting on the proposed budget March 12 that will be an open public forum for all residents of Middletown. The board's final vote on the budget will be held on March 19, and on April 15, the public will vote on the budget as well as for three seats on the Board of Education. The incumbents running for three, three-year seats on the Middletown Board of Education are Kevin C. Ryan, of Ironwood Court; Laura Agin, Lehigh Drive; and Rose Stallmeyer, of North Point Road. A new candidate, Andrew Bane, Raritan Avenue, also is running for election to the board.