High School Tax Levy to Increase by 1.5 Percent

RUNNEMEDE—Despite having the option to raise the tax levy by as much as 2 percent under state law, the proposed Black Horse Pike Regional School District's 2011-12 budget would only raise taxes by 1.5 percent.

The owner of the average Gloucester Township home—assessed at $199,000—would pay $1,023.96 in taxes to the Black Horse Pike Regional School District (BHPRSD) to support the budget. That average bill represents an increase of $30.95 from the current academic year budget, officials said.

Superintendent John Golden presented the proposed $67,417,382 budget during the BHPRSD board meeting at Triton Thursday night.

"I think that this school board has done an excellent job of trying to save the taxpayers money by being as efficient as a school district can be," he said.

Voters in the district's three municipalities are being asked to approve an operating-budget tax levy of $28,285,704.34 in the April 27 school board election.

An additional $2,161,893 will be raised by taxes to pay off district debt. Voters do not get to vote on that tax levy.

Gloucester Township's BHPRSD tax rate would be 51.4¢ per $100 of assessed property value, while Bellmawr's would be about 50¢ and Runnemede's about 84¢ under the proposed budget.

Gloucester Township taxpayers would shoulder 77.14 percent of the tax levy, Bellmawr's 13.5 percent and Runnemede's 9.35 percent.

The $67.4 million total budget includes $62,504,731 for operating expenses.

The district's operating-budget tax levy has actually gone down over the last five years, according to Golden.

The 2007-08 budget carried a tax levy of $29,655,998, he said. The proposed 2011-12 budget's tax levy is $1,370,294 less than that.

The 2011-12 operating budget will be bolstered by the first increase in state aid in three years.

BHPRSD is slated to receive $30,989,894 from the state for the 2011-12 budget, up $634,911 from the current school year's aid figure.

The district for the 2009-10 school year saw a $587,412 reduction and for the 2010-11 school year a $3.17 million decrease, Golden said.

The $634,911 increase comes under the Christie administration's school funding formula, which increases aid to districts statewide by 1 percent of their 2009-10 budgets.

The district will also move roughly $1,177,000 forward from the current school year's budget to next year's.

The district was able to craft a budget that would not require layoffs on the strength of federal "jobs" aid in the amount of $1,111,073, according to Golden.

"This money has been very helpful. If this money was not available to us, we would be making enormous cuts," the superintendent said.

Golden noted the district cut $313,000 by eliminating the assistant superintendent and assistant business administrator positions—moves that were announced in January when Golden was promoted to superintendent—among other cost-cutting moves.

Looking to future energy savings, the district is in discussions with Gloucester Township about installing solar panels, and is looking to get new boilers for Triton and Highland high schools.

The owner of the average-priced Bellmawr home—$170,200—will pay $840.43 and the owner of the average Runnemede—$97,100—will pay $815.05 under the proposed budget.

There was no public comment on the budget during Thursday's meeting.