School Board to Vote on Preliminary Budget

The Barnegat Township Board of Education will vote tonight at a special meeting on a resolution to approve its preliminary budget for 2012, which amounts to nearly $50 million and would result in a $28.7 million tax levy for the township.

According to the meeting agenda, posted on the district website, the general fund section of the budget will be $45,918,465, and debt service costs will amount to $2,859,990.

A special revenue fund amount of more than $1 million is included in the budget total, but that amount is not added to the total levy.

The school district's state aid effectively decreased for 2012, despite a rise in direct support. 

Barnegat learned last week it will see an for its general budget. But the district also learned it will owe $484,443 in debt service on loans from the New Jersey Schools Development Authority.

That’s a big decrease from the more than $800,000 it owed last year in interest on the SDA loans – the most of any district in the state, officials said – but it’s enough to more than cancel out the bump in aid.

But board members said a carefully crafted budget allowed them to promise no increase in school-related taxes for residents.