Mendham Borough to Move School Election, Twp. Won't

Moving school elections to November would take away the taxpayers right to vote on their school budgets. In the end, that was enough for the Mendham Township Board of Education to take no action before the Feb. 17 deadline and allow their school board elections to remain in April.

The move (or lackthereof) came on the same night Mendham Borough joined the and and moved its election to November.

Originally scheduled as a special executive meeting for the Borough board to go over budget, the necessity of a vote called for a change in plans.

"There was discussion about this issue at our last board meeting and there was information sent home in our bulletin for parents," said Bridget Poole, Mendham Borough Board of Education President. The bulletin contained web links. "It has links so they could get more information."

There was virtually no public turnout for the meeting, and the item was moved quickly. The approval of the option to move the election, , no longer requires the public to vote on the proposed budget, unless it goes above the state mandated tax levy cap. In the event the budget does surpass the cap, voters will be asked to approve or deny just that portion of excess.

In Mendham Township, the sentiments were decidedly different. Board President George Davie opened the discussion of the move recounting his feeling that the board seemed disinclined to take action. Vice-President Andrew Christmann agreed, and in his summary of his presentation to the Township Committee, said the town officials suggested holding off.

 “I don’t want to be on the side of people taking the right to vote away from the constituency,” said board member Carter Abel. “And so I don’t want to be in the first group that moves the election to November. I see no reason to.”

 By staying in April, the Township is allowing voters to continue to vote on the schools budget, regarding of whether or not it is over or under the state-mandated 2-percent cap. Unlike the four-year commitment required to switch, the Board can revisit the option for next year. But not everyone thought staying with April was the way to go.

“My feeling is that it is hard to be the only budget that gets voted on. It makes us an easy target and having been through it a number of time when the budget gets defeated even when it has a minimal increase,” board member Rick Pappalardo said. “Then it goes through a process that you really lose a lot of control over. It goes to the Township Committee who aren’t as close to it and the cuts, in my mind, can be somewhat arbitrary.”

At the end of the session, board decided to not take any action and allow the Feb. 17 deadline to pass, locking them into the status quo for this cycle. The uncertainty of cost will need to be addressed going forward. Traditionally Mendham Township split the cost of the election with Borough, but Borough’s move leaves the burden on Township. According to Christmann, the county  costs which used to be split up will now be drawn from a much smaller pool as the majority of districts made the move to November.

While there may be uncertain costs associated with this budget cycle and uncertainty as to who will be on point for the next budget with Kris Harrison leaving the district, the process in Mendham Township will remain the same.

For now.