Toms River Among Majority of Towns Not Amending Tax Rate With New State Aid

Toms River Regional Schools received last week and chose to bank the $1.95 million for next year’s budget instead of providing taxpayers with relief this year.

Statewide, $850 million was awarded to school districts, and each district had to make a quick decision of whether to amend the 2011-12 budget and decrease school taxes, or defer the money into next year's budget.

Toms River, the fourth-largest school district in the state, went with the option that most other districts chose. Instead of holding an emergency meeting to amend the tax levy and decrease school taxes, more than 500 school districts instead decided to add the funds to their 2012-13 budget.

In Toms River, schools Business Administrator Bill Doering said he and Superintendent Frank Roselli agreed to put the funds into next year, but at several members of the public decried the move and called for immediate tax relief.

Doering said today that he had not calculated the impact the funds would have had on .

“We did not go that direction so it is not calculated,” Doering said in an email. “In general terms, it would have lowered the levy by $1.959 million and the tax levy increase would have changed to a $2.8 million increase (from a $4.7 million increase). Instead of a 3.6 percent total levy increase, it would have been 2.1 percent, or a reduction of 1.5 percent.”

Doering said federal funding next year will shrink by $2.4 million, so an extra $1.95 million will help to plug that hole.

Only a handful of districts in New Jersey used the state aid immediately, and held meetings before Tuesday’s deadline to amend their tax levies.

The impact varied widely. In some school districts, it meant more than a couple dozen dollars off a tax bill, while others were able to roll back the tax impact to 2010-11 levels.

For example, Warren Township did use the additional aid to reduce an increase in the tax rate for the 2011-12 year (from $98 to about $30). River Edge School District returned $141,000 to taxpayers in town.

Manasquan's tax rate for school purposes dropped 1.4 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, from 8.418 to 8.275. That equals a zero tax increase for this year and will lower district spending to the state-mandated minimum tax levy.

Moorestown in Burlington County also eliminated a tax hike. The district erased its entire planned tax increase and cut a controversial pay to play policy as well, thanks to the additional state aid.

Moorestown kept its school tax rate at the 2010-11 level by applying $695,000 of its budget toward tax relief. That means the increase approved by voters in April— which would have resulted in an approximate $80 tax increase on a home assessed at the township average of $533,800—went away.

Brick Township Board of Education voted to apply the $1.3 million the township unexpectedly to tax relief for Brick residents.

The average Brick household – calculated as a house assessed at $304,000 – would have seen a tax increase of $54.94 this year, but will now see an increase of $15.16. That translates to an average savings of $38.78 per household.

When asked why the Toms River district did not provide taxpayers with relief, Toms River Regional School Board President Ed Gearity said the decision would have impacted next year’s taxes.

“You’d pay less this year and pay even more next year,” Gearity said.

Doering said the decision to put the was both because of the immediate deadline to act, plus the fact the funds would help fill a revenue gap next year.

“It really helps us with the long-term financial planning of the district,” Doering said.

Doering also said a 4 p.m. Tuesday deadline was not feasible to meet. That's the hour the state gave districts to amend their tax bills.

Justin Barra, spokesman for the state Department of Education, said that at the county level, the deadline could have been extended.

"It's on a county basis. The deadline was 4 p.m. Tuesday, and my understanding was that some counties have extended that. The counties have to certify their tax bills, so it's up to the specific counties. So the guidance we sent out for Tuesday was based on the state and what we felt they needed to do," Barra said.

As a regional district, Toms River Regional has four towns that each have a unique school tax rate. Unlike Toms River, one regional district voted to use the state aid this year instead of next: West Morris Regional School District.

In West Morris, the original tax levy increase was going to be 0.48 percent, but the new aid dropped it to 0. In that district, for Washington Township residents with an average home assessed at $436,787, a total of $32.49 would be added to next year’s tax bill from the regional district under the approved budget. That has now been reduced to 0.

For Toms River residents, the tax rate grew this year to $0.7389 per $100, up from $0.706 per $100.

In Toms River, where an average home is assessed at $376,778, the school tax amounts to a $2,784 annual tax payment.

This means an increase of 3.3 cents per $100 over 2010-11, adding $124 more in taxes levied for the average assessed home in Toms River.

Graelyn Brashear, Daniel Nee, Tom Dunphy, Lauren Burgoon, Eamon Harbord, Jason Koestenblatt and John Patten contributed to this report.