Mahwah April 3, 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 5 Trustees adopt 2013-24 budget by Frank J. McMahon The Mahwah Board of Education has adopted the K-12 school district’s 2013-14 budget, which will increase by 6.3 percent over the 2012-13 budget. The operating budget of $64,860,229, which includes a current expense of $61,395,169, special revenue of 825,000, and debt service of $2,640,060, reflects an increase of $3,823,007 over the $61,037,222 budget for the 2012-13 school year. In addition, the operating budget contains a surplus of $1,092,174, state aid of $2,362,212, a capital reserve of $2,785,000, grants of $825,000, and $195,100 in other income. The tax levy to support that budget will be $54,996,960, which is a two percent increase over last year’s tax levy, which complies with the two percent state mandated cap on a tax levy that allows the budget to be adopted by the board without going to the polls for a vote by the public. There will also be a debt service tax levy of $2,603,783, which is permitted by state law to be calculated outside the two percent cap mandate, and that brings the total tax levy to $57,600,743. The school district has reported a 2.4 cent increase in the school district’s tax rate based on the financial year, which runs from July 1 through June 30 of the following year. That tax rate increase would result in a $113 increase in the district’s property tax on the owner of a home with the average assessed value of $470,000. The tax rates for the township as calculated by Bergen County, however, are based on a calendar year. Based on the township’s net taxable valuation of $5,663,744,555, the new tax rate for the school district on a calendar year basis will be $1.017, which is a 3.3 cent increase over the current calendar year. That tax rate increase will result in a calendar year tax increase of $155 on a home with the average assessed value of $470,000, and that represents a 3.4 percent increase. The final property tax bills will also include the tax rates for the township, the township’s public library, Bergen County, the Bergen County Open Space program, and the municipal open space program. All of those tax rates will ultimately be certified by the county into a total tax rate for the township which must be used to determine the actual tax that will be due on a property in the township. According to Edward Deptula, the school district’s business administrator, the budget includes the addition of air conditioning to the Joyce Kilmer multi-purpose room and the high school gymnasium, the replacement of the roof on the original building for Ramapo Ridge, and the upgrade of the electrical switching system at the high school. The budget also includes the possible addition of a social studies supervisor, special education paraprofessionals, a world language teacher, and an increase to the central office secretarial staff. Deptula pointed out, however, that the overall enrollment in the school district is expected to decrease from 3,162 students in the 2013-14 school year to 2,738 students in the 2017-18 school year. Specifically, he pointed out that the enrollment in pre-K through grade five is expected to decrease from 1,334 students in 2013-14 to 1,128 in 2017-18; enrollment in grades six through eight is expected to decrease from 793 students in 2013-14 to 677 in 2017-18; and high school enrollment is expected to decrease from 1,035 students in 2013-14 school year to 933 in 2017-18. Aditya Singh, a junior at Mahwah High School, recently won the Rutgers Student Award and the Army First Place Project Award at the Annual North Jersey Regional Science Fair 2013. Singh was recognized for his research project, ‘Cholesterol-driven early endosomal dysfunction and neurodegeneration,’ which was exhibited at Rutgers University. Singh is pictured with Mrs. Kristen Trabona, science and practical arts supervisor. Excellent effort