Page 6 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • April 4, 2012 Franklin Lakes K-8 district’s school tax drops by three percent by Frank J. McMahon The Franklin Lakes K-8 Board of Education has adopted its budget for 2012-13 school year. The taxes to be raised to support this budget for 2012 will decrease by $778,075 or three percent compared to the 2011 tax levy. The $28,173,082 budget increased by $562,634, or two percent over the 2011 budget, primarily due to a $274,883 increase in regular and special education program instruction, a $316,808 increase in special education tuition for those students educated outside the district, and a $121,920 increase in instructional staff training services. The state aid the district received increased by $408,413, or 148 percent. School Business Administrator Michael Solokas advised that $297,204 of that state aid was used to lower the local tax levy, while a portion of it was used to offset the loss of Federal Education Jobs Act funding, and $68,000 was used to fund the operating budget. He also advised that the amount of taxes required for the district’s debt service decreased by $105,646 or 9.8 percent. The district’s tax rate will decrease by 1.9 cents as a result of this budget and tax levy to just over 60 cents. That decrease will result in a $196 drop in the school-related property tax due on an average borough home assessed at $1,032,343. The school tax rate must be added to the tax rates that support the regional high school district, the Bergen County budget, the county’s open space fund, and the municipal tax to determine the total tax rate for the borough. The total tax rate will not be known until this summer, when the county certifies all the tax rates that comprise the overall figure. Once that total tax rate is known, a property owner can multiply the overall rate by his or her property’s assessed value in hundreds of dollars to determine the total amount of property taxes. Revenues besides the state aid and tax levy include $332,232 from unused expenses in the budget year that ended in June 2011, $1,650,000 in tuition for 26 students with autism who will attend the district’s CAPS program and approximately 30 students who will join the district’s preschool regular education class, and $82,546 from transportation fees from parents whose children are not eligible for state paid busing. Appropriations include $9,655,190 for instruction, $3,944,317 for special education, $102,080 for student body activities, and $491,808 in tuition for nine resident pupils who attend out-of-district special education classes. The district will also spend $277,988 for attendance and medical supply costs and salaries and fees for four school nurse/ teachers and the school medical inspector; $1,097,677 for support services provided by extended instructional support teachers, guidance counselors, child study team personnel, secretarial staff, and home instructors; and $253,500 in curriculum improvement/staff development. The appropriations also include an allocation of $570,149 for library books, periodicals, newspapers, library supplies, audio visual supplies, and the salaries for four library/media center teachers; $1,548,235 for school and general administration; $2,383,279 for the operation and maintenance of the district’s buildings and grounds; $867,395 for transportation costs for public and non-public elementary students living more than two miles from their schools and children in special education programs and transportation for student events; $5,249,960 in benefits such as social security and medical plan premiums and insurance costs; and $139,460 in capital expenses for equipment and major building repairs, including $29,034 for an interest assessment charge for state wide costs under the School Construction Authority, which is deducted from the district’s state aid. The district will not submit its budget to the voters this year. Under the provisions of a new state law, a district that agrees to move its school board election to November for at least four years (as Franklin Lakes has) is not required to hold a public vote on its budget if the district keeps its tax levy increase at or below the state mandated cap, which is two percent.