BHPRSD Taxes to Drop in Gloucester Twp.

Gloucester Township residents will pay slightly less in taxes to the Black Horse Pike Regional School District for 2012-13 than they have in support of the current school year's budget—this, despite the return of freshmen sports and full funding of the golf and swimming programs at the district's three high schools next year.

The district's tax levy will be held steady at its 2011-12 level of $27,985,704 under the new spending plan, Superintendent John Golden announced during a budget hearing at Timber Creek Regional High School Thursday evening.

While the overall levy will be stable, the owner of Gloucester Township's average-priced residential property of $198,000 will actually pay $3.73 less than they had in support of the 2011-12 regional district's budget, Golden said.

"We reinstated full funding of golf and swimming, which is a biggie. We reinstated freshmen sports, which is a biggie. And we did it without increasing taxes," Board President Joyce Ellis said.

The budget does not require any layoffs or program cuts, district officials said.

Homeowners in Bellmawr and Runnemede will pay more in support of the regional district's 2012-13 budget, with the owner of the average-priced residential property in Bellmawr ($170,745) paying $31.22 more and the owner of the average-priced residential property in Runnemede ($99,209) paying $34.06 more than the current year.

Of the $27,985,704 in tax revenue for the 2012-13 budget, $21,185,003.83 (75.7 percent) will come from Gloucester Township, $4,020,226.89 (14.4) will come from Bellmawr, and $2,780,473.28 (9.9) will come from Runnemede.

The regional school board unanimously approved the $70,541,277 budget on Thursday. Of the total, $65,718,645 will support the operating budget and $3,746,397 will be used to pay off debt, officials said.

With no increase in the tax levy from 2011-12 to 2012-13, the Black Horse Pike district has managed to keep its total tax levy hike over three budgets to just $118,015, "which I think if you look at other school districts, that's a very good number," Golden said.

Daniel Strauch, of Erial, thanked the school board for working with the Black Horse Pike Swim Booster Club to keep the swimming programs at Highland, Timber Creek and Triton going over the last two years with funding cuts.

"I want to thank you for listening to parent groups that were not happy about that. You actually did something to allow us to change that decision. So, thank you for taking a step back and proving to other people that it does make a difference if you rally together and pull together and try to work with the board and say, 'Maybe there's a way we can salvage some of these programs.'"

Freshmen-level sports will return in football, boys' and girls' soccer, boys' and girls' basketball, softball and baseball under the 2012-13 budget, according to athletic director Chris Dziczek.