Mayor & Council act on defeated school budget Resolution calls for zero increase in homeowners’ taxes

Carteret, NJ – On Thursday May 6^th 2010, Mayor Daniel J. Reiman and the Borough Council took action on Carteret’s recently defeated school budget. The budget levy failed to pass by just 3 votes during the April 20^th school election.  Consequently, Mayor Reiman introduced a resolution  to the Borough Council calling for a flat General Fund Tax Levy of $ 22,801,000 and a debt service levy of $ 1,216.605  for the SFY 2010/2011 budget.

The 2010/2011 School Budget that was introduced by the Carteret Board of Education in April called for the elimination of 62 staff positions and a zero increase in homeowners’ local school taxes. The approved 2010-2011 school budget (of $47,291,037) appropriated 4 million dollars less, (8% less), than the current 2009/2010 budget.  This reduction in local spending will consist of a $2.502 million cut in state aid, a further reduction of $1,012,000 in accumulated surplus, a reduction in the districts miscellaneous revenues of $181,905 given the current economy and the loss of an additional $225,000 in state extraordinary aid that was realized in the current year budget.

“Leadership often requires making difficult decisions. Each year we reach these crossroads, where we have to determine the appropriate balance between our tax levies and the quality of educational resources that our school system provides.  Over the past 7 years we have instituted $ 6.8 million in cuts to the proposed school tax levies and have saved borough homeowners $816 in aggregate school taxes; no council or administration has acted as aggressively as ours to save dollars and shave costs,” Mayor Reiman stated.

“However, this year, Governor Christie has declared war on the working middle class towns of NJ and the state’s cut of 2.5 million in aid to Carteret  public education  has unfairly increased the  burden  on our local taxpayers, both today and into the foreseeable future.”

“Our board of education has worked hard on this budget and has made tough decisions with regard to the elimination of positions and programs. The voter’s message was that they wanted a thorough and efficient review of the proposed budget and my administration has done just that. We have found this budget to be fair to the taxpayers and school children; While other school districts are raising taxes this board of education called  for a zero percent increase – less than the 2010, 2009, 2008, and 2007 budget years. The significant growth that Carteret has experienced and additional rateables have helped stabilize local and school property taxes.”