District voters could be asked to shoulder a nearly $58.3 million general fund tax levy for the township's public schools if the tentative budget accepted by the Wall Township Board of Education moves forward.
With county and state deadlines for submission of the spending plan rapidly approaching, the board unanimously approved the proposed $62.7 million budget for the 2012-2013 school year during Tuesday's regular meeting.
As approved, the budget is based on state aid figures for the current 2011-2012 academic year according to a copy of the adopted resolution.
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Board Secretary Brian J. Smyth noted that the state Department of Education will not release the state aid funding amounts going to individual school districts in 2012-2013 until the end of this week.
The board-sanctioned budget will be submitted now to the Monmouth County Superintendent of Schools and to the state education department. Though it is still a work in progress, the board must submit its tentative budget to Trenton by March 5, Smyth said.
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"We're still working on this budget as a board," Smyth said after the meeting.
The board has until March 27, the date of a scheduled public hearing on the proposed budget, to revise line items within the spending plan, Smyth said.
The timeline for crafting the budget will remain the same as in previous years with a final budget to be presented to the public at the board's April meeting according to Board President John Tavis.
Should that finalized budget exceed the state-mandated two percent cap on the general fund tax levy, taxpayers will be asked to vote upon it as ballot question during the November general elections, Tavis explained.
The board approved a resolution at a Jan. 31 special meeting to move its elections from April to the November general elections. That move came in response to a state law signed by Governor Chris Christie on Jan. 17 that allows school boards to run their elections concurrent with the general elections.
The tentative operating budget of $62,752,230 is $1,713,230 more than the $61,039,000 operating budget now in effect for the 2011-2012 academic year.
The proposed general fund tax levy of $58,297,150 exceeds this school year's general fund tax levy of $56,829,239 by $1,467,911. As proposed, the general fund tax levy is below the state tax levy cap of two percent, Smith noted.
Altogether, the district's tentative budget comes to $67,095,230 according to a copy of the approved resolution. That amount, broken down, includes the $62,752,230 for the operating budget, $3,255,339 for debt service and $1,088,128 in grants and entitlements given to the district.
