Haddonfield Sun

By ROBERT LINNEHAN | The Haddonfield Sun
The district is facing a very difficult budget for the upcoming school year, according to board of education representatives. Rising state costs, including pensions, are complicating the 2010-2011 budget.
The district faces an uphill battle in crafting a budget, with several challenges coming down from the state, Board of Education member Michael Joseph Mercanti-Anthony said. Even the current 2009-2010 school district budget is being affected, he said, with the state raising pension costs this month.
This month alone, pension costs are increasing by 25 percent, Mercanti-Anthony said, and the state is planning to withhold its last two promised state aid payments for the year. All told, he said this amounts to a pension deficit of about $410,000.
“Over the next several meetings, the board will consider how best to address this,” Mercanti-Anthony said.
“Our budget is exceptionally tight. The surplus funds we do have are only 2 percent of the total budget, approximately $600,000.
“Covering these expenses completely from surplus is risky.  One unexpected hole in the roof and we have a problem. “
While addressing the current budgetary problems, the board will begin crafting the 2010-2011 budget at its next public board meeting on Thursday, Jan. 14 at 7:30 p.m. in the Haddonfield Memorial High School library.
The final budget will be formed in March and the community will vote on the budget April 20.
“We educate our community’s children,” Board President Steven Weinstein said. “We want not only to open our process so that the community sees what we are spending and why, but we also need input from the community on priorities and new ideas. We urge people to take advantage of these meetings as they make our final budget stronger.”
In addition to the budget, the board will begin to negotiate with the Haddonfield Education Association, as teacher contracts will expire on June 30 this year. A preliminary meeting between the board and the HEA occurred earlier in December.
If a contract is not agreed upon by June 30, Mercanti-Anthony said the district will continue to operate under the terms of the current contract until a new deal is reached.
“We’re committed to negotiating a contract that is fair to our employees and respectful of the great job they do in educating our students,” he said.
“At the same time, it is clear we cannot continue with business as usual.  My concern is that we remain able to continue to support the current level of programming without overtaxing the public.”
The 2009-2010 budget featured a local school tax rate of $1.37 per every $100 of assessed property value, up two cents from the 2008-2009 year.
The average assessed home of $491,359 paid about $6,754 in school taxes for the 2009-2010 year, an increase of about $108 from the past year.
The tax levy increase was 1.62 percent – the lowest in about 20 years according to board members.
The budget featured an addition of two full-time elementary school teachers, a part-time elementary school teacher, and one world language position for the 2009-2010 year. There were $170,000 in reductions in the areas of custodial, operations and maintenance, substitute teacher costs and educational assistant costs.
For updates on the budgetary process and BOE meeting dates, please visit the district Web site at Haddonfield.k12.nj.us.