Tax Levy Flat for 2011-2012 School Budget in Eatontown

Editor’s Note: This story has been revised. An earlier version stated incorrectly that the debt service for 2011-2012 was $19.69 million. The debt service for the upcoming school year is $19,690.

Eatontown’s superintendent and interim business administrator will present a budget for next year at a public hearing Monday night that paints an increasingly sunny picture for taxpayers compared to the at the beginning of the month.

Superintendent Scott T. McCue and Interim Business Administrator Charles F. Shay will present the revised budget to the board of education for adoption at its 7:30 p.m. meeting in the All-Purpose room at the .

According to McCue, the district recently learned that an inadequate amount of funding was applied to the initial budget for the federal Education Jobs Fund. In an e-mail, he said, “When we submitted our budget to the County Office, our Federal Jobs Fund did not credit appropriately in the accounting system.”

The Education Jobs Fund is a federal program offered to help districts create and save teachers on a yearly basis.

The difference allowed the district to put out a general fund budget of $18 million that shows a 3.6 percent decrease from last year’s budget and with no change in the $13 million tax levy from last year, according to a release from McCue’s office. 

McCue noted in the release that the 1 percent increase in state aid for next year was used to “offset taxes in Eatontown.”

There is a $19,690 increase in debt service to be collected by way of local taxes that is not part of the general fun tax levy and results in an average increase in taxes from last year of .14 percent.

School taxes will increase $2.58 next year for the average assessed home in Eatontown of $310,000, which had a tax bill of  $1,840 in 2010-2011.

The borough lost $294 million in ratables last year due to reevaluation causing the tax rate to likely increase, according to the release.

The public will have the opportunity to vote on the budget on April 27 as part of the school board elections.