Holmdel 2020 Vote: Deadline Approaching To File Absentee Ballots

HOLMDEL, NJ — On Tuesday, Sept. 26 Holmdel Township residents will be asked to give a yay- or nay- vote on a $40 million spending plan to improve Holmdel's public school buildings and facilities.

The referendum vote is scheduled to take place from 4 to 8 p.m. Sept. 26 at the usual Township polling places. This time and date was set by the Holmdel Board of Ed., however, and is a shorter window than usual for voting.

If a voter is not able to vote in person that day they may use an absentee ballot, which is available at Holmdel Town Hall or online at the Monmouth County Clerk: http://www.monmouthcountyvotes.com/voter-information/vote-by-mail/. Applications must be received by the Clerk of Elections via mail seven days prior to the election. Hand-delivered applications will be accepted up until 3 p.m. the day before the election.

If the September referendum passes, construction will not begin until June of 2018 and it won't be completed until Sept. 2020, hence the project's nickname, the Holmdel 2020 Initiative. Holmdel schools superintendent Dr. Robert McGarry is pushing hard for residents to approve the spending plan.

Highlights of the overall plan include:

• New track, turf and lights at Roggy Field
• New (and relocated) tennis courts with lights for evening play (the current tennis courts are sinking into the ground)
• Upgraded fields and irrigation for all grass-playing fields
• The addition of a multi-purpose physical education room for yoga and wrestling
• Renovation of Satz locker rooms
• Full-day kindergarten: Dr. McGarry says he wants Holmdel to offer full-day K, as Holmdel is currently one of only two districts in Monmouth County that does not. He wants that to be rolled out sometime before 2020. But he says the vote needs to pass to pay for existing space to be converted into full-day kindergarten classrooms.
• Adding conference rooms to the high school library and making the TV studio bigger
• Replacement of gym floors at Indian Hill and Village School
• An old music classroom at Satz will be turned into a new, first-ever Robotics Room
• Partially replacing the roof at Holmdel high school
• Converting the high school's wood shop room (currently used as storage) into an engineering lab
• Adding air conditioning to the older gyms at Village, Indian Hill and Satz that currently don't have it

If the referendum passes, the average Holmdel property owner will see a projected $159 increase in their school property taxes (on the average Holmdel home assessed at $657,288). The Holmdel school district released these anticipated property tax increases if the Holmdel 2020 Initiative goes through (per assessed value of home):

• $300,000: $72 yearly property tax increase
• $400,000: $97 yearly property tax increase
• $500,000: $121 yearly property tax increase
• $600,000: $159 yearly property tax increase
• $700,000: $169 yearly property tax increase

Holmdel 2020 Initiative: How Much Will Your Property Taxes Go Up?