Holmdel Twp. trims rejected school budget
Committee cuts $800K in salaries, benefits
BY ERIN O. STATTEL Staff Writer
The Holmdel Township Committee unanimously approved the reduction of more than $800,000 from the defeated school district 2009-10 budget at a special meeting held Monday evening.

The $47.4 million tax levy called for by the Holmdel Township Public School District's 2009-10 spending plan was defeated by voters at the polls April 21.

Deputy Mayor Pat Impreveduto read the resolution during the May 18 meeting authorizing the reduction of $840,000 from various recommended line items in the budget, bringing the tax levy down from $47,404,487 to $46,564,487.

The figures do not reflect the approximately $3.2 million in debt service.

The Holmdel Board of Education introduced a total spending plan of $56,381,901 earlier in the spring.

Residents voiced their opinions both for and against cuts to the school budget at the meeting.

Resident Bill Allingham questioned the Board of Education's reason for not cutting administrators' salaries.

"I am not satisfied with what transpired here tonight," he said after the committee approved the resolution. "I am now finding out certain facts that should have been made public.

"Our superintendent will receive a $9,000 raise on top of a $200,000 salary, and now I am told, after the meeting, that she has a contract that builds a raise in every year. This is something that the public is not told."

Allingham said according to the budget figures residents were given, this year there was a $1.5 million increase to the budget, but he felt there was a lack of adequate explanation of the allocations.

"Looking at how they allocate the funds, about 79 percent of the budget goes to salaries and benefits," he said, holding a budget description provided by the district.

"That means about $1.2 million of the $1.5 million increase goes to increases in salaries and benefits. The idea that public employees get these kinds of raises in this kind of economy is crazy."

Other residents felt the increases were justified and said they were willing to pay the taxes in order to maintain the quality of education in Holmdel.

"The schools and the school district are why we all moved here," said Tracey Abrams, a teacher in the district and resident. "They are the reason why I am here even though this is an expensive place for me to live right now at this point in my life. If we don't keep our class size small, student achievement will decrease and it will be reflected on our state school report card. Our property values will go down as a result of that. I understand property values have gone down anyway, but our school system here gives us an edge."

According to Township Attorney Duane Davison, the Board of Education has the option to appeal the committee's decision to reduce the budget by $840,000 and would have to file such an appeal with the state's Department of Education.

"The Township Committee has cut the budget and set forth recommendations on which line items should be reduced," he said. "But those are only recommendations and the Board of Education may decide how they are going to make their budget work minus the $840,000."

According to the resolution, the Township Committee, which was represented by Impreveduto and Committeeman Rocco Pascucci during meetings with the school district, salaries in the high school were cut from $5,917,536 to $5,717,536 while health benefits were reduced from $5,881,511 to $5,731,511. Other suggested reductions were made to the electricity, natural gas, tuition reimbursements and other employee benefits line items.

Citizens also voiced concerns over how responsive the Township Committee would be to their arguments and if they had come into the meeting with prepared cuts.

"A discussion did not occur here tonight," said resident Ralph Blumenthal. "You said you would listen to us, yet there was no discussion on the dais."

Davison said the discussion is reflected in the resolution.

Committee members said there were other options on the table to choose from and the one decided on was the best for the town.

After the meeting, Allingham said he would like to see more transparency on the part of the Board of Education.

"The Board of Education needs to be a lot more transparent in dealing with the public so the public knows what is being spent prior to voting," he said. "When they prepare the budget, they should come out and tell people what it is that they are increasing and decreasing.

"Now they tell us that teacher contract negotiations are coming up; how do you go into salary negotiations with a budget that already has raises built into it?"

Several board of members were present during the meeting and defended the board's choice of allocations.

"We do not trivialize the money that the community pays," said board member Ana Vander Woude. "The public may not agree on how we allocate it, but we are all taxpayers and all part of this community. The greatest resource we can give our students is a teacher."

Other members said the board will have to live with the cuts.

"We have to live with the cuts to the budget, and I think it will be a challenge so we will need to sit down and look things over," said Barbara Garrity, vice-president of the board, after the meeting. "We are still the third lowest in the state for administrative cost per pupil and just as we require quality teachers to provide quality education, we require quality administrators to organize our district."

Garrity said the board understands the current economic situation and how it affects residents.

"We understand people are under economic pressure and we are all feeling it, but we did make an effort to draft a budget to reflect that, but the voters spoke and it was rejected," she said. "We'll just have to work something out."