ESTELL MANOR — City Council voted unanimously Thursday night not to change the local school budget that voters rejected in April, leaving intact a
23.4-cent tax-rate increase that school officials said was critical for the district to continue functioning.
Saying that further cuts would lead to the district becoming insolvent and possibly having to consolidate with a neighboring district, the council decided against decreasing the $4.4 million spending plan that was rejected 317 to 270.
Joined by Board of Education members and school administrators, the council listened to hours of comments from residents who overflowed the City Hall meeting room, most of whom pleaded with the council not to decrease the budget.
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People sitting had to move their chairs up to make room for rows of people standing in the back. The governing body heard from laid off teachers, unemployed residents who were struggling with their taxes, former board members and a sixth-grade student at the school.
“It would permanently hurt me if my hometown school closed while I still attended it,” said 12-year-old Kris Morgenweck, who received a standing ovation from the crowd.
“It should be noted that many of our residents are on fixed incomes,” said Giles Fox, of Cumberland Avenue. “Many will be facing foreclosure if both this budget and municipal budget tax increases are approved. And those responsible for this debacle will be City Council.”
Struggling over whether to heed the will of the voters to reduce the tax increase despite pleas from the superintendent and board members that there was no conceivable way to run the small kindergarten through eighth-grade school effectively with any further cuts, the council members individually praised the school and voted to send the budget back to the board unchanged.
At the beginning of the meeting, Mayor Joseph Venezia, whose son attends the school, asked for a 5-cent decrease on the proposed tax rate, but he relented after the board members described how much they had already cut and what further cuts would mean.
“We’re not cutting fat from the bone,” said board President Nelson Dilg, “we’re cutting meat from the bone.”
Even with the tax increase, the district is losing three teachers, reducing the hours of several employees and cutting most of its extracurricular activities.
The tax increase allows the district to keep 11.5 teaching positions, counting a special education instructor, nurse, and part-time physical education, art and music teachers, all of which Superintendent John Cressey said were imperative.
“Every other district in Atlantic County has those teachers,” he said. “We can’t do without them.”
What swayed the council more than anything were projections provided by the board about how much more taxes might increase if the district consolidated with Buena Regional School District.
Tara Corbett, of Cumberland Avenue, summed up the discussion in her comments late in the meeting.
“I’m really confused, because it seems like a no-brainer,” she said, since it seemed to her that to keep the budget as it was would mean the school could remain open, she wouldn’t have to send her children to another district and her taxes would still remain lower than otherwise.
Mike Cartier, of Ninth Avenue, said in that case, it would be the council’s duty to keep the tax increase, however large, lower than what might otherwise happen if the district did stop operating.
The board will vote tonight at the school on whether to accept the council’s recommendation.
Contact Lee Procida:
609-457-8707
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