BOE Details Cuts, Approves Tax Levy

The Barnegat Board of Education passed a resolution approving a $26.4 million tax levy Tuesday night after board Business Administrator Dean Allison offered a presentation on the board’s .

The new budget calls for the elimination of a dozen jobs – many expected to be met through retirements – as well as further cuts in transportation costs, but also gives a more than $93,000 boost in support to extracurriculars, including athletics. 

Allison explained that the district is still feeling the impacts of last year’s cuts in state aid. Combined with an unexpected debt service payment on Schools Development Association loans of more than $800,000, the cuts required the district to slash 65 jobs and dip into its capital reserve, Allison said.

The district will have laid off 103 people in three years with the passing of next year’s budget, he said, but is working to avoid more cuts.

“Unemployment is a lose-lose for everybody,” he said, pointing out that the district has spent $400,000 in unemployment payouts in the current fiscal year.

Next year, the district will eliminate two bus driver positions, one transportation support job, four teaching jobs, two instructional support staff, one full-time custodian and two part-time custodians, Allison said. 

The retirement of two drivers and a full-time custodian will allow those positions to be cut without layoffs, he said, and the board expects a few more retirements to be announced before year’s end.

Handling the cuts will require some musical chairs-like shuffling, Allison said, “but hopefully we’ll have chairs for everybody to sit in.”

The district would have faced deeper faculty cuts were it not for a federal grant aimed at retaining teachers, Allison said. All New Jersey school districts got a share of the stimulus money, which in Barnegat amounted to $649,000.

“We’re using it to pay for jobs that would have otherwise have faced layoffs,” he said. And while that support is in the form of a one-time grant, Allison said he believes the district can avoid further cuts in the immediate future.

"I think we can keep all those people on the payroll, because of all the initiatives we’ve got going,” he said. “We have plans in place to save hundreds of thousands of dollars.” 

Those savings are in the operations and maintenance section of the budget, where nearly $370,000 in energy savings are expected, and in transportation, where route redesign and joint busing with neighboring districts are expected to save more than $390,000.

About $24,000 will also be cut from the school and business administration budget, Allison said. 

Regular education program spending will go up nearly $360,000, and special ed funding will increase $620,944.

Spending on extracurricular activities, including athletics and clubs, will increase about $93,000, restoring some of the major funds cut last year, Allison said.

Allison and Board President Lisa Becker underscored that the board cannot predict what affect their budget will have on residents' school tax bills at this point.

When giving the budget its stamp of approval, the Department of Education attached an estimated tax rate of $1.05 per $100 of assessed value – up five cents from last year's rate. But ultimately, said Becker and Allison, it's up to the township administrator and tax assessor to determine the rate.