School Taxes To Rise Less Than 1 Percent In Bernards Township

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — Increases in health care benefits, salaries, and costs associated with the unionization of facility services are causing school taxes to increase slightly in Bernards Township.

The proposed $111.7 million 2022-23 school budget, which was introduced at the March 28 Board of Education meeting, brings a $1.288 million increase over last year. This equates to a .73 percent increase in the school tax levy, according to Rod McLaughlin during his budget presentation.

The major factors that negatively impacted the budget include an increase of $401,000 in salaries, an increase of $972,000 in health benefits, an increase of $757,000 in special ed placement, and an increase of $325,000 in grounds and maintenance due to a union being formed.

Additionally, the budget includes a $561,223 roof replacement project at Oak Street School. The state will cover 40 percent of the project leaving $366,000 to be paid by the district.

"I am really looking forward to getting this roof taken care of. As you can see it has some areas that really need to be replaced badly," said Superintendent Nick Markarian.

To help decrease the local tax levy, McLaughlin said the district applied the entire $6,517,070 in school aid that was awarded from New Jersey. The district received almost $1 million more or a 15.76 percent increase over its state aid for the current school year. Read More: Bernards Township Schools Will Get More State Aid For 2022-23

A public hearing and a vote to finalize the budget will be held on May 9 at 7 p.m. at the Ridge High School Performing Arts Center on South Finley Avenue.

See the full preliminary budget below:

Preliminary FY 22-23 Budget Presentation March 28 2022 by Alexis Tarrazi on Scribd

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