The Hopewell Valley Regional School District Board of Education has adopted the district’s operating budget for the 2018-19 school year. Approval of the budget came following a public hearing on May 7.
The 2018-19 operating budget totals $80.66 million. The district’s 2017-18 operating budget totaled $77.78 million. Administrators will raise $71.95 million in a local tax levy to support the 2018-19 operating budget. In 2017-18, the tax levy collected from residential and commercial property owners to support the operating budget was $70.71 million.
The district’s total appropriations for 2018-19 are $87.6 million, which includes a total debt service payment of $6.12 million. Property owners will pay $5.44 million of the debt service payment. In all, property owners will pay $77.39 million to support the operation of the school district in the upcoming year.
Superintendent of Schools Thomas Smith said the increase in the property tax levy for 2018-19 is 1.75 percent, which is below the state mandated 2 percent cap on the amount that can be collected in the tax levy.
Smith said the budget is a planning tool that reflects the school district’s values; providing academic and extracurricular opportunities for all students, as well as long-term planning for academics and staff.
“We provide an education. We don’t make widgets. We mold children,” Smith said.
In outlining the budget for the school board, Smith said the biggest cost drivers in the 2018-19 budget are fixed ones – salaries and benefits. Special education, extracurricular activities, co-curricular activities, maintenance and operations, and transportation are among the other cost drivers.
Smith said there is money in the budget for a Chinese language teacher and an athletic trainer. Children who do not have a safe way to walk to school will be bused, and there is a pilot program for a “late bus” run from Timberlane Middle School and Hopewell Valley Central High School for students who stay after school for activities.
Smith said he is not recommending any cuts to the budget. The superintendent said the maximum budget reductions have been made over the past two years and he said any additional budget cuts would affect programs and facilities – possibly larger class sizes, and reductions in art, music and/or world language instruction in the elementary schools.
On the revenue side, the school district receives less than 4 percent of its revenue from state aid and 1 percent in federal funds. Funds taken from the district’s surplus account (savings) will make up about 5 percent of the revenue. An additional 1 percent will be generated by miscellaneous revenue.
Property taxes are apportioned among the district’s three sending municipalities – Hopewell Township, Hopewell Borough and Pennington Borough – based on enrollment. The total value of taxable properties in each town also affects the school tax rate, whether it will increase or decrease.
In Hopewell Township and Hopewell Borough, the school tax rate increased because the total value of taxable properties dropped. In Pennington, the school tax rate decreased because the total value of taxable properties increased, according to district administrators.
For 2018-19, the school tax rate in Hopewell Township will be $1.62 per $100 of assessed valuation. The amount represents a 4-cent increase in the tax rate from 2017-18. The average assessed value of a home is $481,500 and the owner of that home will pay $7,800 in school taxes in 2018-19.
In Hopewell Borough, the school tax rate for 2018-19 will be $1.57 per $100 of assessed valuation. The amount represents a 3-cent increase in the tax rate from 2017-18. The average assessed value of a home is $404,553 and the owner of that home will pay $6,351 in school taxes in 2018-19.
In Pennington, the school tax rate for 2018-19 will be $1.53 per $100 of assessed valuation. The amount represents a 2-cent decrease in the tax rate from 2017-18. The average assessed value of a home in the borough was not available at press time. Using the $1.53 tax rate, the owner of a home that is assessed at $500,000 will pay $7,650 in school taxes in 2018-19.
