Secaucus School District Is In Budget Crisis, Unveils 3-Year Financial Plan

SECAUCUS, NJ — Interim Secaucus school superintendent Dr. Mark Toback created this three-year plan to proactively address the financial crisis that has now arrived to the front steps of the tiny Secaucus school district.

Secaucus schools have a $2-million deficit this year, and the district wants a 7.2 percent increase to the school tax levy (it's about $170 more per home, per year).

If this 7.2 percent increase does not get approved at next Thursday's board meeting, the school district will see "significant program reductions, staffing impacts and potentially both over the next couple of years," warned the district's assistant business administrator Pat Cocucci.

Toback's three-year plan is called the Budgeting and Financial Outlook 2026-2029. The public can read it here. Page 8 is the page that talks about taxes.

"We have to act now," said Toback. "Had we not developed this three-year plan, we would ultimately be in a very bad situation."

The 7.2-percent tax increase "(is) not optional. It's a necessity," said Cocucci. "It does sound high, but it equates to essentially $170 per average household (per year)."

The Secaucus school district will also have cuts this year, said Toback.

No programs will be cut, school board president Kelli D'Addetta said Thursday night. The district is not answering about staffing cuts right now. A mom asked Thursday night if there will be staffing cuts, and Toback answered her:

"We can't really talk about that. We have another board meeting in a week. At that meeting, we'll talk about staffing for the upcoming year ... There are cuts. There has to be," he said. "I would not say that we have a hiring freeze, but if there are opportunities for the district to not fill positions in a budget crisis, then certainly we would take that."

There's a potential classroom sizes would be impacted, he also said.

In the past several years, the Secaucus school district has not raised taxes beyond the 2 percent cap allowed by the state. However, 2 percent tax hikes have not — by any stretch — kept pace with how much it cost to run a school district, said Toback.

What are the biggest costs increases to the Secaucus school district?

• A sharp increase to employees' health insurance costs and prescription drug costs (the district saw a 30-percent increase in healthcare premiums this year, and a 32-percent increase to prescription costs).
• Staff salary increases
• The cost to maintain buildings, such as the energy costs to keep the buildings warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
• Inflation and the naturally increasing costs of goods and services.

In total, this three-year, 2026-2029 plan will bring in $6.6 million for the Secacus school district. It will prevent the school district from having to make "deeper cuts," said Cocucci.

The public budget hearing for the Secaucus school district will be next Thursday, May 7.

Are future tax increases coming? Toback said the district also needs to bring in a four-percent increase in revenue in 2027-2028, and an additional four-percent revenue increase in 2028-2029. Revenue increases may mean future tax increases. The projected revenue increases for the next two years could change based on how much state aid Secaucus gets next year.

Those numbers could actually go even higher if employee healthcare costs continue to rise, said Cocucci.

Secaucus School District And Town Both Seek 7 Percent Tax Increases (Thursday night's meeting)