May 4, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 5
Mahwah
Voters approve school budget, endorse trustees
by Frank J. McMahon Fourteen percent of Mahwah’s 15,181 registered voters went to the polls last week and approved a $52,861,361 tax levy to fund the township school district’s 2011-12 school year budget of $59,397,470. The voters also returned three incumbent members of the school board to new three-year terms on the board. The tax levy was approved by 60.7 percent the voters, with 1,284 voting to support it and 832 voting against it. All but Districts 10 and 12 voted to approve the tax levy. Superintendent Charles Montesano, who will be retiring at the end of this school year, said he was “very, very happy” to have the budget pass in his last year in the school district for many reasons. “First, I can leave on a good note. Second, I was not looking forward to sitting down with the (township) council and hashing out a reduction in the budget. We didn’t want to cut any programs. That’s the most painful thing when you have to sit down and cut certain things for the kids. So, I’m very happy for that,” Montesano said. Last year, the budget was defeated by the township’s voters, and the school board had to cut $250,000 from that spending plan. Asked how the school board kept the budget under the two percent state-imposed cap, avoided staff and program cuts, and arrived at a property tax decrease for the owner of a property with the average assessed value, Montesano said the tax decrease is an anomaly because it is related to the township’s recent revaluation. However, he added that a lot of things helped this year. For instance, he pointed out that the teachers are paying 1.5 percent of their salaries toward their health care this year, the total cost increase in health care was less than the state had projected, and the school board has worked to become more efficient by undertaking some capital projects to cut energy costs. “It’s a combination of factors,” Montesano said, “but it shows that we are running an efficient as well as an effective school system.” The tax decrease Montesano referred to is based on the new average assessed value of a home in Mahwah as a result of the recent revaluation of the township, which, according to Township Administrator Brian Campion and Tax Assessor Stuart Stolarz, is $470,000. The tax levy needed to support the school budget will result in a 0.962 cent tax rate for the school district, according to Edward Deptula, the school district’s business administrator. That tax rate, when compared to the school district’s previous tax rate of $1.298 and the previous average assessed value of $358,200, will reduce the school-related property
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tax on a house with the township’s average assessed value by $128 per year. Each homeowner can determine his or her individual school-related tax by multiplying the new 0.962 cent tax rate by the new assessed value of their own property in hundreds of dollars. The three incumbent members of the Mahwah Board of Education who were reelected include Kenneth Angelo, Patricia Shada, and Peter Wendrychowicz. Angelo received 1,355 votes, the highest total of the three candidates. Shada received 1,353 votes, and Wendrychowicz received 1,301 votes. Angelo will be serving his fourth term on the board. He currently is the chairman of the Transportation Committee and is a member of the Facilities Committee and the Public Relations Committee. Shada will also be serving her fourth term on the school (continued on page 23)
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