Town Leaders Prepare to Set New School Tax Levy

The mayors of Scotch Plains and Fanwood are working to determine how to move forward now that the two councils must set a new tax levy for the Board of Education budget.

The mayors told Patch that they received the budget and supporting documentation from the Board of Education late last week, nearly 48 hours after a majority of voters defeated the $74.9 proposed tax levy on April 20. They are planning to meet this week to begin the process of reviewing what the board has given them and then working to revise the levy.

"We have until May 19 to come back with something, then if we can't agree the county superintendent will be available to us to act as a referee of sorts," Fanwood Mayor Colleen Mahr said. "I really see this going very professionally and smoothly. We understand that there's additional cuts to be made because that is the will of the people. They spoke loud and clear."

The mayors said last week that they must decide whether they plan to meet jointly as full councils or assign the work to a subcommittee of members. While they could technically meet as separate councils and then come together, Scotch Plains Mayor Nancy Malool said doing that seems counterproductive.

"To come together in May on two different pages, it doesn't make sense," she said.

Malool also noted that it seems irrelevant to consider one town's budget defeat greater than the other's. She said both towns voted it down "pretty strongly" and that that's what the councils will take into account when making their changes.

The groups plan to meet and start working on the new tax levy, then hold at least one public meeting prior to the May 19 deadline. As of late last week, the mayors had yet to determine whether that meeting or meetings will occur before or after they agree upon a new tax levy recommendation. Malool said that the latter may occur because of their tight time restraints, but that it would come before they've officially submitted it to the Board of Education so that they still have time to make changes if need be.

Both mayors acknowledged that the difficult challenge will be trying to determine how to deliver what the Board of Education needs while also meeting the demands of the voters.

"The interesting thing on my count is that I still have kids in the schools, and I know Colleen still has kids in the schools, so we will be looking at this as both parents and mayors," Malool said. "I've heard already from both sides — people who say they want no tax increase to people who say don't touch it at all. To find a balance where we're helping out the tax while not hurting the kids is not an easy task."

The Scotch Plains mayor noted that there's always the temptation to use more surplus to lower the tax increase, but that such a move would have consequences for the school district in the future.

"You're always thinking about future years and making the budget too tight that if there's an emergency or something you don't have the money to cover it," she said. "We're familiar with that from our own budgets, so we're very cognizant of it."

Mahr said the ultimate goal will be working to make sure whatever decisions they make have as minimal an impact on the classroom and the students as possible.

"I really feel the last place we want to affect is the classroom where our children are learning," the Fanwood mayor said. "If that is agreed upon as a concept by both sides, then we understand that piece should be last and that there is a budget we need to go through to make additional reductions. We'll work with the superintendent to come up with what we think will work without making further reductions in the classroom."