BOE Passes $86.2M Tentative Budget

A tentative $86.2 million budget for 2011-12 is on its way to the county superintendent after the Board of Education (BOE) voted 5-3 to approve it during a special meeting Tuesday night.

The projected budget, which falls 3 percent under the tax levy cap, is a $241,267 increase from this year's $85.9 million budget. Interim Superintendent Catherine Mozak and Business Administrator Michael Derderian, who crafted the budget over the course of four days, stressed that no district jobs would be cut under the budget.

The loss of $112 million in ratables made the tentative budget difficult to hammer out, said Derderian. But he noted fewer taxes will be collected next year because this year's 2 percent tax levy cap imposed by the state was not used. The tax levy decreased from $60.1 million in 2010-11 to $59.4 million in 2011-12, or by a little more than 1 percent.
 
"…This is a very lean budget, and the fact that we didn't utilize any spending authority from tax levy (means) our taxes are going down next year," said Derderian.

The tentative budget means an increase of $97.93 a year, or $8.16 a month, in taxes for the average assessed home of $286,871, according to a flier distributed at the meeting.

The budget takes into account five areas of "major increases" totaling $3.2 million, including payment of a one-year note for the Foley Field project ($635,000) salary increases ($1.5 million), non-certified pensions ($81,000), schedule changes at Bloomfield Middle School ($382,000) and the reorganization of Language Learning Disabled classes ($562,000).

These increases are offset by a total of $3.1 million, including $300,000 in surplus money, $704,000 given by the federal Education Jobs Fund, $400,000 in energy bid and conservation and $790,000 in increased state aid announced last Thursday. The "aging out," or graduation, of 12 special education students will free up an additional $970,000.

BOE member Robert DeMarino, who voted against the tentative budget, lambasted the state for only giving the district a fraction of the $4 million in aid that was cut earlier this year.

"What we're doing is putting it on the backs of the local taxpayers and we're putting it on the middle class," DeMarino said. "So I don't want to hear from anybody in this room that somebody is being kind to us. They're not."

BOE members Anthony Petrillo and Susan Wolf also voted against the projected budget. Maribel Perez was absent.

Resident Madeline Wollner said she was concerned the town council's would inflate school taxes if tax-exempt properties, like Bloomfield schools, were forced to pay a separate fee based on water consumption.

"We are borrowing from Peter to pay Paul," Wollner said. "Everyone is trying to make their budget balanced, but unfortunately it all comes back to the taxpayer."

After speaking with Mayor Raymond McCarthy, BOE President Joseph Lopez told Patch on Wednesday Bloomfield's public schools would not be charged a sewer utility fee, if implemented.

BY THE NUMBERS

Several budget appropriations were increased - while others were drastically cut, as outlined in the 2011-12 Tentative Budget Calculation.

• Technology: 40.5 percent increase for better email capabilities and infrastructure upgrades
• Resource Room: 20.5 percent increase to accomodate the reorganization of the Language Learning Disabled classes and block scheduling at Bloomfield Middle School
• Supers/Legal/Phone: 20.8 percent decrease related to legal services
• Home Instruction: 39 percent decrease
• Vest Program: 46.3 percent decrease
• Equipment: 92.4 percent decrease related to two brand new boilers were factored out of the total cost for 2011-12
• Special Schools: 100 percent decrease

Correction: This story incorrectly stated payment for the Foley Field project was a five-year note. The story has been updated to reflect that fact as a one-year note.