Schools To Present Overview of Budgets in the Week Ahead

The number of budget hearings in both Verona and Cedar Grove are dwindling week.

The Cedar Grove Board of Education meets on Tuesday March 26, at 8 p.m. in the North End School’s Media Center. The board is expected to recap the entire 2013-14 school budget and publically introduce the $27.7 million budget at the meeting. A meeting agenda is attached as a pdf.

“Our budget is at the two percent cap,” said Superintendent Dr. Gene Polles. “This means we are looking at $103.06 as the average property tax on an average assessed home of $466,200.”

In last year’s budget, a homeowner with a home assessed at the township average of $470,400 saw their taxes rise $55.34 per $100,000 of assessed valuation.

The Verona Board of Education also meets on Tuesday March 26, at 8 p.m. in the library of Verona High School to discuss the $33.6 million budget. A meeting agenda is attached as a pdf.

“It includes an increase of 2.5 percent on the general tax levy,” said Verona board member Joseph Bellino. “There have been numerous deletions from the requested funds and there have been some small additions to the budget.”

At the March 12 meeting, the board discussed items that are in the budget, items that were not in the budget as well as what was taken out of the budget to stay under the 2.5 percent tax cap.

Both school districts received flat state aid figures after Gov. Chris Christie announced that 377 districts across the state would receive increases in funding.

"In my opinion this is always good news when we can maintain state aide from one year to the next that enables us to work within the guidelines which the state has put into place to contain property taxes," said Polles.

Also, meeting this week is the Verona Planning Board. The board will meet on Thursday, March 28 to discuss a major sub-division and possible related variances for Fredco Landscaping for a property located at 30-32 Durrell St. A meeting agenda is attached as a pdf.

The meeting will be held at the Verona Community Center, 880 Bloomfield Ave. beginning at 7:30 p.m.

Both the Verona and Cedar Grove school districts will be closed on Friday in observance of Good Friday.