New School Hires On Tap, Supplemental Tax Bill Coming To Hillsborough

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — Now that the two referendum questions have successfully passed in Hillsborough, Superintendent Michael Volpe is gearing up to start putting things in motion.

At the Monday night Board of Education meeting Volpe announced new hires and a supplemental tax bill coming to residents.

"I am looking to make some hires starting on the next agenda. I am very excited to start following through on what we had said to the taxpayers of Hillsborough," said Volpe.

One of the hires will include a candidate for the school district's safety operations who will then help Volpe hire Building Monitors.

"We are moving quickly on that," said Volpe.

In total the district will be hiring for the added school security for positions - 9 Building Monitors and Coordinator of School Security Operations. To apply or for more information click here.

The district is also looking at hiring more teachers now. He noted that it can be hard to find candidates in the middle of the school year and encouraged people to apply.

Additionally, since the hires will me made this year Volpe said funds will need to be collected this year.

The Township will be sending out, on the school's behalf, a supplemental tax bill to the taxpayers that will be due for the Feb. 1 and May 1 payments.

"Those are the only supplemental tax bills you will have to deal with in reference to the referendum," said Volpe. "In the future, it will be included in your regular tax bill."

The supplemental tax bills are expected to arrive to Hillsborough Township and Millstone residents by the end of December.

The district also shared some more information on Supplemental Tax Bills in a FAQ for residents:

A supplemental tax assessment calculates additional taxes owed on an existing tax bill. Hillsborough and Millstone taxpayers will receive a supplemental tax bill associated with the approved referendum questions as these funds are being used during the 2023-24 school year. The school district is hiring personnel this school year based on the successful referendum.

Due to the successful referendum, a supplemental tax bill will come from the Township to residents at the end of December 2023. Later, the Township will then release funds collected to the school district. The Township works with the County Tax Assessor, not the school district, as to a timeline and how the supplemental taxes will be collected. Again, the supplemental tax bill should be mailed to you in late December from the Township. The Township is only acting as the conduit to collect the taxes for the school district, as per law.

The amount of the supplemental tax supporting the referendum questions will be equally divided and collected with the February 1st and May 1st normal due dates for tax payments. However, there will be two payments on each date. One for the normal tax bill and one for the newly created supplemental tax bill. The supplemental tax bill is due to the successful school referendum passed by the voters and not any Township initiatives.

The Board and Volpe also reminded residents that Friday, Dec. 15 is the last day to fill out the district-wide survey, which is part of the Strategic Planning process launched this year.

The survey is open to employees, parents, students, and community members without students in the schools.

These survey results will be analyzed by the Board of Education and be used as a first step in setting priorities for the next 3-5 years. The link for the survey can be found here: https://hyasurvey.com/hillsborough

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