Belleville Town Council Votes Against $3.75M Bond For School District

BELLEVILLE, NJ — The Belleville Town Council recently voted against an ordinance that would have backed a $3.75 million bond to make upgrades in the local public school district.

The council turned back Ordinance 02-24 at their Jan. 23 meeting. The proposal – which was up for a first reading – was voted down 4-3 (watch meeting footage below, cued to the discussion and vote).

Council members Vincent Cozzarelli, Naomy De Peña and Thomas Graziano voted in favor of the ordinance. Mayor Michael Melham, Marie Strumolo-Burke, Steve Rovell and John Notari voted against it.

Prior to the vote, Richard Tomko, superintendent of the Belleville Public School District, gave some details about the request, which included:

• $1.5 million for a turf sports field
• $1 million for furniture upgrades
• $500,000 for maintenance vehicles and other equipment
• $500,000 “E-Theater” (for e-sports)
• An additional $250,000 for contingencies

Tomko compared the request to a parent co-signing a car loan for a child. According to the superintendent, the township would have assumed no responsibility for the bonds unless the school district defaulted on them.

Tomko said that the district would have to seek private funding if the measure didn’t pass. The board of education voted in approval of the proposal in December, he added.

“I understand that people are probably discussing the tax impact,” Tomko told the council. “However, these things have to get done.”

Last year, Tomko said that the Belleville Public School District is expected to see 625 new students over the next decade. He noted that the hundreds of new students who are expected to arrive over the next 10 years include 258 who will live at new development projects that have recently sprung up in the township.

The superintendent added that he is “100 percent” for the new real estate projects that are helping to fuel the enrollment jump – “that’s called growth,” he said – but he warned that “you have to be ready for it.”

• See Related: Belleville Schools May See 625 New Students In 10 Years, Official Says
• See Related: Belleville Schools Ask For Proof Of Residency In New Signup Process

MAYOR: ‘PREMATURE TO CONSIDER’

Melham has since released a statement that explains the reason why he personally voted against the ordinance.

“First, you need to know that unlike the municipality, school districts cannot bond,” the mayor wrote. “They receive their annual proportional allotment of tax revenue, and that’s all they get. If they need more, they need to go to the voters and have a referendum passed.”

Such a vote passed muster from Belleville residents in 2017, when more than $48 million in renovation projects were approved via a bond referendum. See Related: Belleville Voters Approve $48.5M School Renovations

In rare cases, the district can ask the Essex County Improvement Authority (ECIA) to issue notes for “equipment,” but said notes must been backed by the township – and therefore require council support, Melham said.

“I agree with some who believe this circumvents the process, but in the end, it’s a legitimate means of borrowing,” Melham wrote. “That said, it should only be considered very sparingly. Since becoming mayor in 2018, the council has backed this move twice, and I’m unsure if it was ever done by previous councils. When we did, the council’s justification was ‘shared services,’ as the new sports facility at #8 would be a value benefit for the township as a whole.”

The mayor continued:

“Speaking solely for myself, here are just a few of the reasons why I came to my decision not to approve. Knowing the ECIA only lends for equipment, I questioned how a field and E-Theater are considered equipment. I was told it qualifies. Adding up the above items, I noticed that the total comes to $3.5 million and not $3.75 million, when I inquired, the answer that we received (shouted from the back of the room) was that the remaining $250,000 was ‘wiggle room.’ Next, unlike the prior occasions when the council backed a note, we were told that the payment was already baked into the annual BOE budget. This time around, Dr. Tomko stipulated that covering the $3.75 million payment would result in a tax increase of two tax points. I, for one, found this estimate interesting because at the time of the meeting, neither the township, the school district, the county nor our bond council knew what the interest rate would be.”

Melham added:

“When I prodded deeper into the rate, we were then told it would be, ‘3.7% subject to change.’ Which means, we don’t know the rate, and it can be anything. Which also means we aren’t sure it would only be a two-point tax increase. Most influential in my decision process was a letter received from the township's bond counsel which advised us this bond was premature to consider at this point. Again, the township bond counsel gave us legal advice regarding the issuing of notes and bonds and if they put in writing, that’s it’s premature to consider, I’m not sure how or why we would move forward.”

Melham insisted that the town and the local board of education continue to have a solid working relationship.

“Both entities are doing great things, and the fact that a majority of the council decided against this by no means indicates we are no longer committed to supporting the district in other ways in the future,” he said.

• See Related: Belleville Schools 'Back In Black' Under Tomko, Council Says
• See Related: Progress In Nutley: School, Town Partnership Is Working, Officials Say

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