An unanimous vote in favor of the Hillsborough Township Public School District’s $129.8 million budget set the potential for increased school taxes for Hillsborough and Millstone residents in stone for the 2018-19 school year.
Following the public hearing and final vote during the school board meeting Monday night, the newly approved budget marks a $1.4 million increase over the 2017-18 budget of $128.3 million.
In order to support the budget, just over $97 million will be collected from Hillsborough taxpayers. The proposed tax levy marks a 3.62 percent increase from last year’s total of $93.6 million.
Taxpayers in Millstone who send their children to the Hillsborough Township School District will also see an increase in their school tax levy from $937,312 for the 2017-18 school year to $973,336 for 2018-19, marking a 3.84 percent increase.
Just as in previous years, Superintendent Dr. Jorden Schiff said the proposed increases generally stemmed from a number of areas, including expected salary increases, healthcare costs, special education and transportation costs.
Schiff said the district was able to manage those rising costs through greater healthcare contributions from employees, entering into purchasing agreements with outside entities, internal revenue generation efforts and the use of federal revenue used for tech purchases called “e-rate.”
As a result of the aforementioned rising costs, the school tax rate in Hillsborough will go from $1.605 per $100 of assessed property value for the 2017-18 school year to $1.607 per $100 of assessed property value for the 2018-19 school year.
If a household’s value was set at $400,000 for both years, a homeowner would have paid $6,420 for the 2017-18 school year and $6,428 for the 2018-19 school tax rate.
The average home in Hillsborough is assessed at $389,303. If the home’s assessed value was the same last year, that homeowner would see their school tax bill increase from $6,248 for the 2017-18 school year to $6,256 for the 2018-19 school year.
The tax rate in Millstone will also see an increase, going from $1.750 per $100 of assessed property for 2017-18 to a proposed $1.826 per $100 of assessed property for 2018-19.
If a home in Millstone is assessed at $400,000 for both years, a homeowner could expect to pay $7,000 in the 2017-18 school year and $7,304 for the 2018-19 school budget, marking an increase of $304.
Along with the increase in tax revenue, Schiff is also asking the board to consider taking the healthcare waiver, covering $1.7 million.
According to the budget, the district’s general fund would increase by $2.5 million, from $122.6 million in 2017-18 to $125.2 million in 2018-19, while the district’s grants and entitlements fund could tentatively see a 14.8 percent reduction from $1.98 million to nearly $1.7 million.
The budget also sees a 21 percent reduction to the district’s repayment of the debt fund, going from $3.7 million to $2.9 million in the new budget.
Earlier this month, the district received $25 million in state aid, staying relatively consistent with previous budgets.
“Since the 2012-13 school year, we have remained relatively flat [in state aid] while costs continue to increase,” Schiff said. “This is an unsustainable path, especially when you have a 2 percent property tax cap without having your state aid grow by at least 2 percent.”
“This puts pressure on taxpayers and it also puts pressure on our own budget as well,” he continued.
Schiff said the budget will provide new materials for social studies, additional supplies and curriculum writing and training, among other things.
In addition, the district will also budget for additional security investments to the tune of $50,000, though how that money will be spent has not yet been determined. Schiff said the district will defer to experts for suggestions.
Schiff also outlined additional personnel covered in the current budget that will transition into the next budget: two special education teachers, a half-time preschool teacher, nine full-time equivalent instructional assistants and a half-time school nurse.
The addition of a new American Sign Language position will also be included in the new budget, but was made possible due to a reduction in the district’s World Languages department.
“We are very fortunate that we added American Sign Language this past year at the high school and it was an overwhelming success,” Schiff said. “We have a great deal intent for our high schoolers to move ahead with their American Sign Language.”
A handful of newly budgeted positions are included in the 2018-19 budget: one special education teacher, one and a half instructional assistants, one student assistance counselor and one HVAC maintenance specialist.
Regarding the new HVAC maintenance specialist position, Schiff said the new hire will help alleviate some of the budgetary stresses that have cropped up from previous incidents where failing heat and air conditioning systems created difficult situations for students, staff and teachers.
“We anticipate that this will actually save us money, by providing additional preventative maintenance and help service from our employee, rather than paying a contractor to come on and do the work that our new position will do for us,” Schiff said.
That being said, the district will lose four teachers at Hillsborough High School and one transitional primary teacher. The superintendent said he hoped that the district would be able to make those reductions through attrition.
“We looked at average class sizes in order to make a decision about where to reduce. At the high school, some of those class sizes are smallest in the district, so these are areas that we feel have the minimal impact on students and student learning,” Schiff said.
