Superintendent's Contract, Budget Hearing On Tap For Toms River Schools

TOMS RIVER, NJ — The Toms River Regional Board of Education is scheduled to hold public hearings on Wednesday evening on the 2026-27 school budget and on a new contract for Superintendent Michael Citta.

The meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday in the auditorium at Toms River High School North on Old Freehold Road. There is an executive session at 5:30 p.m.

The district introduced its tentative $306 million budget for the 2026-27 school year in March; it includes tax levy increases for the district's four towns. That number includes both the general fund, which covers the daily operations of the district, and the debt service being paid on bonds the district issued for various work over the years, including the $147 million in capital projects that were approved by voters in 2019

The proposed contract for Citta is the same one initially floated in the fall weeks before the November election that sparked controversy as Toms River Mayor Daniel Rodrick attacked the proposal and demanded Citta resign. That proposed contract is for five years and gives him a raise to $275,000 for 2025-26 retroactive to July 1, with the following increases for the remaining years:

• 2026-27: A 2.5 percent raise to $281,875;
• 2027-28: A 3.0 percent raise to $290,331.25;
• 2028-29: A 3.0 percent raise to $299,041.19;
• 2029-30: A 3.0 percent raise to $308,012.43.

Citta's contract also provides him with 12 sick days, 25 vacation days, 5 personal days and a flat $400 per month car allowance for driving around the district. He does not receive mileage.

Budget breakdown

The budget is up 5.4 percent from the $293 million budget for the 2025-26 school year, due in part to an $8 million increase in the costs of health benefits, according to the district's breakdown.

The Toms River Regional district is self-insured for health insurance and has not seen cost increases at the level being seen for New Jersey's state plan for school employees, Citta said. Aon, the actuary that serves the state of New Jersey's plans, recommended a 27.9 percent for the school employees plan, 31.9 percent for active employees. Toms River's increase is 13.3 percent.

The general fund portion of the 2026-27 budget is $284,156,371, of which 82.3 percent — $233,979,155 — is funded by local property taxes.

William Doering, the district's business administrator, said the overall tax levy increase is 4.9 percent, but the increase varies among the four towns that make up the regional district.

Toms River property owners would see a 4.6 percent increase under the proposed budget, an increase of $17.76 per month for a home assessed at the median of $450,600. The proposed tax rate is $1.077 per $100 of assessed value.

In Beachwood, the proposed tax increase is 5.3 percent, which equals $13.67 per month for a home assessed at $208,700. The proposed rate is $1.553 per $100 of assessed value.

Pine Beach property owners would see an increase of 8.2 percent, equalling $27.76 per month for a home assessed at $414,100. The proposed rate is $1.061 per $100 of assessed value.

In South Toms River, the increase would be 11.4 percent, an increase of $20.64 per month on a home assessed at $171,200, with a proposed rate of $1.417. The increase for South Toms River is significantly higher because it includes a deferred increase from the 2025-26 school year, the district said.

At the Citizens Budget Advisory meeting on April 1, Doering and Citta said the district is budgeting for the same number of positions as in the 2025-26 school year, but said there would be reallocations of personnel, much of it due to the growing enrollment of special education students.

The tentative budget also included $2.5 million expected to be garnered from the sale of district property. Citta said after the Citizens Budget Advisory meeting that would primarily be undeveloped property near Citta Elementary.

The largest increase in the budget is in the general administrative, benefits and utilities category, which includes health benefits. Overall, that portion of the budget is rising more than $8.4 million, or 10.5 percent, to $89,082,524.

Other insurance costs in that category, including workers compensation, property and liability insurance, are rising 5.7 percent to $5,230,851, while utility costs are anticipated to rise about $2.6 percent to $5,989,125.

The second largest increase in the budget is in the special education category, where costs are rising nearly $4.5 million, or 8 percent, to $60,426,591. That includes rising tuition for students who need specialized instruction out of the district, along with an increase in the number of students who have individualized education programs, or IEPs.

More than 23 percent of the district's 14,000 students — 3,247 — have active IEPs, and that number continues to rise. The district anticipates needing 11 new self-contained programs, officials said. The district also has 142 students attending schools out of district, and there is a need for more social emotional supports, officials said.

Curriculum and instruction, which includes teacher salaries, would increase $1.18 million to $92,895,467. That also includes textbooks and curriculum updates.

The budget for co-curriculars — which includes sports and clubs, marching band, theatre and chorus, among others — is increasing just over $34,000 to $4,080,156, with contractual increases in stipends for coaches and advisers and the need to buy some equipment, the district said. That funds 10 fall sports at each high school, 12 in the winter and 10 in the spring. It also provides for 54 clubs at Toms River East, 47 at Toms River North and 45 at Toms River South.

The co-curricular budget also includes interscholastic and intramural sports at the three intermediate schools, along with at least 20 clubs at each of those schools.

The operations and maintenance budget is $13,278,486, trimmed by just over $72,000 from 2025-26. It includes custodians, maintenance and the district's share of the costs for Class II and Class III police officers. The district is using $2.935 million in maintenance reserve to help cover maintenance costs, officials said.

The district has 23 total properties covering more than 540 acres, with more than 2.5 million square feet of building space to maintain, Doering said.

The district plans to spend $1,545,422 from its capital reserve on projects at seven schools, including retubing the boiler at Toms River High School South ($50,000); repairing the track at Toms River North ($610,422); replacing a transformer at Toms River East ($250,000); repairing the elevator at South Toms River Elementary ($100,000); univents at Citta Elementary ($350,000); and work on the gym floors at Walnut Street School ($150,000) and Washington Street School ($35,000).

The transportation budget is increasing 2.2 percent, primarily due to the cost of aid-in-lieu, where the district pays stipends to families whose students attend out-of-district schools for transportation when the cost to bus those students exceeds the stipend amount.

Doering said the district gets reimbursed by the state for about 95 percent of the costs of transporting students out of district to non-public schools, including those receiving aid-in-lieu. But the reimbursement does not capture all the costs of the current school year because it includes students being transported as of Oct. 15, so students who move into the district after that date are not included.

In the last 10 years, the number of non-public students has risen from 702 to 3,516, and the district is budgeting for a 500-student increase in the 2026-27 school year. In 2025-26 the increase was 244 students, Doering said.

The district will be replacing five 54-passenger buses in 2026-27 through its rolling lease-purchase program, he said.

The technology budget, which includes all the equipment such as computers, projectors and such to parts to software licensing and cybersecurity, is rising $119,186 to $3,553,095.

The full Citizens Budget Advisory meeting is below.