Toms River School Officials Crossing Fingers As More Sandy Grant Funding Proposed

TOMS RIVER, NJ -- Toms River school district officials are crossing their fingers after the district was invited to apply for a fourth round of Community Development Block Grant Essential Service grant funding, district Superintendent David Healy said Wednesday night.

The announcement came as Healy discussed the district's tentative budget, which the Toms River Regional Board of Education approved for submission to Interim Executive Ocean County Schools Superintendent Todd Flora.

Specifics of the budget were not discussed; Healy said there is a Citizens Budget Advisory Committee meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 23 in the media center at Toms River High School North, where the proposed budget will be discussed in detail.

The Essential Services Grant funding, of $14.5 million, was announced March 9 by the Christie administration as part of a $51 million allocation of Superstorm Sandy recovery funding, according to the state Department of Community Affairs. The funds would be allocated to communities still struggling to recover from Sandy, the DCA said.

Healy said the district was notified about the potential funding last week, and on Friday received a packet from the state including an application for the grant funding, which Business Administrator William Doering is working feverishly to complete.

"It's very promising for this community and for the district," Healy said.

The district had appealed to the Christie administration for help bridging a gap that remains as Toms River continues to rebuild from Sandy, which destroyed $4 billion in ratables in Ocean County, with more than half of that in Toms River.

While the township is recovering, the return of ratables hasn't happened as quickly as officials hoped, he said.

The tentative budget for the 2016-17 school year -- which includes a tax levy of almost $154 million, including $6.5 million in debt service -- was constructed with the loss of the CDBG funding in mind, Healy said.

"We have been working on this and planning for this since September," he said.

The tentative tax levy represents an increase of nearly $10 million over the levy for this school year, which totals $144 million including debt service. It represents a 7.2 percent increase.

Healy said any CDBG funds the district receives under this possible round of funding will be a welcome relief.

"There is a plan if we don't get the money," Healy said. "We've been working on it. But there's some good news (with word of the possible grant funding) and I'll remain optimistic."

The state will hold a public hearing on the CDBG proposal March 22; Healy said if the district receives funds, the award likely won't come until at least the end of April.