School district reduces tax impact of proposed budget
Public hearing on spending plan to take place March 28
BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP
Staff Writer

ALLENTOWN - The tax impact of the proposed Upper Freehold Regional School District's budget will be less than the district previously reported.

The Board of Education unanimously voted to adopt the preliminary $16.6 million budget at its March 7 meeting. At that time, it was reported that the tax levy would amount to 5.8 cents per $100,000 of assessed value for Allentown residents and 4.1 cents per $100,000 of assessed value for Upper Freehold residents.

At the most recent Board of Education meeting on March 21, Business Administrator Viola Yosifon said the school district had extra surplus to decrease the tax levy to 4.9 cents per $100,000 of assessed value in Allentown and 3.6 cents per $1000,000 of assessed value in Upper Freehold.

A homeowner with a house assessed at the borough's average of $154,500 would pay an additional $49 in school taxes, while a homeowner with a house assessed at the township's average of $519,000 would pay an extra $36 in school taxes if the budget passes.

"There have been a couple of changes," Yosifon said. "We had to rearrange where the funds are coming from. What happened is the special education adjustment dropped a little. We have extra surplus to decrease the tax levy a little bit."

Superintendent of Schools Robert Smith previously said that the school district took care of its special-needs programs for at least another year, which freed up approximately $120,000 to use this year for other services.

The budget consists of a capital outlay of approximately $233,000, which would include the cost of temporary classrooms to ease overcrowding conditions in the elementary/middle school and new equipment for the high school's industrial arts program, according to Smith.

This year's budget would also add one sixth-grade teacher and one seventh-grade teacher, Smith said, and would provide the elementary/middle school with both a part-time physical education teacher and a part-time Spanish teacher. The elementary/middle school would also gain a literacy staff position, according to Smith.

In addition, the new budget would provide for an additional elementary/middle school counselor and three-quarters of a secretarial staff position to assist the school's Child Study Team, Smith said. The other one-quarter of the full-time position would entail working as a secretary in the main office of the high school, he said.

The new budget would further provide for the purchase of new math textbooks and supplemental supplies for sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students as well as supplemental coaching staff for boys and girls soccer at the middle school level.

Allentown High School would get three new teaching positions: one science, one math and one English supervisor.

The new budget would also allow the high school to make two of its part-time secretarial positions full time.

New instruments would be purchased for high school band members, graphic calculators would be purchased for math students, and athletic supplies would be purchased for student athletes. The school's wrestling mats would also be reconditioned to extend their life expectancy, Smith said.

The school district would put in a new section of bleachers at the high school football field as well.

Voters will decide the fate of the proposed budget during the April 17 Board of Education election. The school district will also have a second question on the ballot asking voters to approve an additional $13.2 million for the middle school project.

If the referendum passes, the tax impact would be an additional $53.75 per $100,000 of assessed value in Upper Freehold and $112.90 per $100,000 of assessed value in Allentown, according to Board of Education President Joseph Stampe.