MILLSTONE – The Millstone Township K-8 School District Board of Education has adopted a $38.7 million budget that will fund the operation of the district during the 2018-19 school year.
The budget will be supported by a tax levy of $31.5 million to be paid by the township’s residential and commercial property owners. Other revenue includes $376,544 from the district’s surplus fund (savings) and $5.2 million in state aid (up from $4.8 million in 2017-18).
The school district’s 2017-18 budget totaled $38.2 million and was supported by a tax levy of $31.3 million. The average home in Millstone Township was assessed at $531,160 and the school tax rate was $1.71 per $100 of assessed valuation. The owner of that home paid $9,082 in school taxes.
For 2018-19, the school tax rate will decrease to $1.692 cents per $100 and the average home assessment is estimated at $534,657. The owner of that home will pay $9,046 in school taxes, a decrease of $36.
With the projected change in the tax rate, if a home was assessed at $500,000 for 2017-18 and is still assessed at $500,000 for 2018-19, the school taxes will decrease from $8,550 to $8,460, a $90 decrease.
School taxes are one component of a property owner’s tax bill, which also includes Monmouth County taxes, Millstone Township municipal taxes, a fire district tax and other assessments. Individuals pay more or less in taxes depending on the assessed value of their home and property.
“I am pleased to announce the Board of Education approved the budget for the 2018-19 school year,” Superintendent of Schools Christopher Huss said. “Thanks to our administrative team’s thoughtful planning and responsible management, we were able to present the board with a budget that maintained all existing programs for students.
“In addition to stellar curriculum in all subject areas, the budget supports our highly regarded STEM (science, technology, engineering, math] classes, robust arts programs, progressive student-selected elective classes in the middle school, interscholastic sports and a wide variety of extracurricular activities.”
The board members “once again demonstrated they are an effective and responsible governing body that balances fiscal responsibility with meeting the needs of the schools and students. Their commitment to these two causes is clearly evident in the several months of work that went into examining our costs and needs and helping us arrive at this point. The approved budget is 1.29 percent higher than (the 2017-18 budget), however, thanks to recently paid off debt, the impact on homeowners should be negligible,” Huss said.
The school district operates three facilities – the Millstone Township Primary School, the Millstone Township Elementary School and the Millstone Township Middle School. An agreement between Millstone Township and the Upper Freehold Regional School District allows Millstone Township students of high school age to attend Allentown High School.
