NEW YEAR, SAME OLD B***S***

The following blog post is from Danielle Walsh's new blog, " Keeping Middletown Informed". It's the first of many that has been promised by Danielle. I can't wait to read more.  The post below is published here with her permission. Enjoy - MM

January 04, 2019

NEW YEAR, SAME OLD BULLSHIT

'The Middletown Board of Education and Township Committee are now in a race to decide when you will vote for School Board Members with zero input from YOU'
First, I apologize for the vulgarity, but sometimes I am astonished at the lack of respect and trust the Township Committee and the Board of Education have for each other. If you thought a new year and new members would bring a change, think again.

It's no secret the BOE and the TC haven't always seen eye to eye. As I former BOE member and president myself, I've encountered the frustrations of trying to create common ground. The Middletown residents, however, have made it crystal clear that they want to see a better working relationship between the two entities to not only reduce taxes, but to keep the public better informed of issues that affect their families. And in turn, all the candidates who ran this year for both BOE and TC made 'working together' and 'transparency' a central platform of their campaigns.

So here's the latest beef as I see it...There have been passing statements made by members of the Township Committee since the election, that they felt the Board of Education elections should be returned to April. Here's where it gets a little complicated so bear with me while I give you some background...

-BOE elections are presently held in November. There are no party affiliations on the ballot and they are purposely sectioned away from party-specific positions on the physical ballot.
-November elections are directly tied to a 2% cap on the BOE's budget, meaning the BOE may not raise their overall budget by more than 2% in a given year thereby limiting any taxpayer increase. (There is a minor exception with banked cap.) The budget, in turn, does not have to be voted on by the public.
-We used to have BOE elections in April several years ago, but we moved them to November.
- Moving elections to April, would eliminate the cap of spending, and allow the BOE to present any increase they feel necessary with the codicil that is will now be voted on by the public. There were several budgets passed with increases up to 11% to the taxpayer when this was the case.
- If the budget does not pass, it would be turned over to the Mayor for revision.

Still with me? Great! At my last BOE meeting in December, these statements and/or rumors from the TC were addressed. Our attorney told the BOE (all in public and on video at the middletownk12.com website) that basically, whoever passes a resolution first gets to decide when these elections occur, (which seems ridiculous to me, but I digress). I advised my fellow BOE members, that although I did not trust the motivation for the TC's talk of this that they should reach out and try to work together as well as table the decision making until the two new BOE members were sworn in.
On January 2nd, the new BOE had a discussion about passing a resolution to prevent the move to April elections, as a number of BOE members felt strongly that the move was frivolous, among other reasons. There was also further talk of having the resolution prepared for the January 15th meeting, giving the public and the TC about 2 weeks to digest the idea and allow time for discussion with the TC.

Keep in mind here, as stupid as it sounds, whichever governing body passes their resolution first, wins this debate.

Fast forward less than 48 hours later...The TC sends the BOE their resolution to move the elections to April. No public discussion, as the BOE did. No input from the public, which the BOE did. They sent the resolution and informed them it would be voted on at the Township Committee Re-organization meeting on...(wait for it)...Sunday morning....Seriously? The first official act of this new TC is to undermine the BOE and dictate to them, without any time for input or public opinion, when their elections should be.

Not to be outdone , the BOE quickly reacted by sending public notice with intent of their own of passing a resolution keeping the elections in November. The BOE meeting is 9 am Sunday. The TC Meeting is 10 am Sunday morning....Neither meeting is a particularly accessible time of the week for residents to get involved or give residents enough time to learn about the issue, but both are open to the public.

So the pettiness, blame-game and political battle will continue into the new year for the TC and the BOE. The audacity of the TC to presume to know what's best for the BOE without sufficient consultation with them is alarming. There are two sides to the timing of school board elections, and I see validity in both, as I outline below, but to push this through quickly, without public input or even school board input is a deceptive and arrogant move by the TC. My suggestion to you is to share this information and write the TC and BOE and demand your input be counted and transparency be a priority. Otherwise, we will continue to be dictated to and told our voices are obsolete. It is sheer hubris that allows our elected officials in the TC to presume issues are too complicated or too unimportant for our input. And I find it terribly ironic that our TC spouts about the importance of keeping taxes down, while simultaneously voting for measures that cost us more money, and have the potential to raise taxes exponentially.

Here's my take on the pros and cons of April/November Elections....

April...Pros
-Likely a more informed voter base, as school elections draw out those who know the candidates, with the possibility of less votes based on presumed political affiliation
-Public input in the budgeting process for the BOE. The Budget Ad Hoc Committee (of which I was a member) was designed to help inform and sell the public on what their money is being spent on.
-The public votes on whether to approve the budget.

April Cons...
-The additional cost of approximately $40,000 to run the elections separately will be assessed to the BOE, who has already lost $1.3 million to state cuts.
-previously elected BOE members to 3 year terms will be cut approximately 8 months, undermining the will of previous voters.
-Budgets have the potential to skyrocket if approved by the turnout of residents.
-Voter turnout is substantially lower
-If a full day of voting, another day added to the school year, if school's close.
-If a 4-9pm voting window, the possibility on minimal voter turnout broadens and could be considered voter suppression.
-2% cap is lifted on BOE budget.

If the Budget fails during April elections, the mayor would be responsible for revisions and quite honestly, I believe this is why this nonsensical pissing match is happening. The Township Committee wants more oversight of the BOE. Tony Fiori is still whining about losing his precious Stevenson Park Complex and being asked by the public to work with the BOE to upgrade fields. But ask yourself who is more qualified to make financial decisions that concern our children? The BOE Business Administrator and Superintendent in conjunction with teachers, principals, parents/residents and the 9 people elected to the BOE or our (likely) new mayor Tony Perry, who has shown himself at the very least to be dishonest in his campaign practices with zero experience in what our children need to succeed?

No other district in the state has ever gone back to April elections after moving them to November. That doesn't bar us from doing it, but it should give us pause to take our time, talk it out in public, get input and make the right decision, instead of this race to mediocrity we have in Middletown with these rash decisions, excluding all public input. Let's take a step back, take our time and do the right thing for the taxpayers and more importantly our children...

Please share, share, share and help keep Middletown Residents Informed!

Middletown BOE Meetings: April 19th & April 25th

I'm really getting backed-up with all the videos I need to watch and comment on. I only recently finished watching the BOE videos from March.  Life happens sometimes I suppose...

I know that the capital budget was discussed and that teacher contract talks are pending. If anyone has anything to comment on from these two videos, let me know and I'll put it on top of my priority list for this weekend.


BOE Workshop Meeting - April 19, 2017

BOE Voting Meeting - April 25, 2017

For this that like to follow a long the Meeting Agenda's can be found HERE and the latest available posting of Meeting Minutes of the Middletown Board of Education can be found HERE

Middletown BOE Public Hearing on the Proposed 2014-2015 Budget on May 5, 2014: Tax Levy Expected To Be 3.6%

I found the following press release (see below) on the Middletown Board of Education (BOE) website. There will be a public hearing this upcoming Monday night, May 5th on the proposed 2014-2015 school year budget. According the press release the proposed school budget is expected to include a 2% tax increase.

The press release also states that the BOE plans to utilize a portion of the district's "banked" tax levy saved  from previous years, to fund a pending pension liability assessment from the New Jersey Division of Pensions and Benefits. What the press release doesn't state though is how much of an additional levy will be imposed through the use of the banked cap levy.  The BOE would prefer to inform residents at the meeting Monday night.

Don't fret however, you needn't  wait all weekend to find out. I've learned that the there will be an additional 1.6% added to the  tax levy to fund they pension liability, which would bring the overall tax levy for the upcoming school year to 3.6%.

If you have any further questions about  the proposed budget make sure to attend Monday's BOE meeting and ask. I'm sure you'll get the answers you're be looking for.



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Middletown, New Jersey, May 1, 2014 – The Middletown Township Board of Education will be
conducting a public hearing on its final proposed budget for the 2014-2015 school year on Monday,
May 5th at 8:00 p.m. at Middletown High School North, 63 Tindall Road, Middletown.

The Board of Education approved a tentative budget that includes a 2% increase in the tax levy. The
final proposed budget that the Board will be voting on at this meeting includes the utilization of a
portion of the district’s total banked tax levy to fund a pending pension liability assessment from the
New Jersey Division of Pensions and Benefits. The banked cap utilization will increase the 2014-2015
tax levy. This change will be discussed at the May 5th public hearing.

The May 5, 2014 voting meeting agenda is currently posted online at www.middletownk12.org. 

Independent Article On $1.2M Increase In School Budget Gives Potential Insight Into This Year's Municipal Budget

Last week's Independent had an article about the Middletown Board of Education's budget introduction for the upcoming 2013-2014 school year," Decline in property values drives M’twn school tax hike; $78M loss in property valuations contributes to $1.2M tax levy increase", this article may give us some insight into what this year's municipal budget may have in store for us. I recommend reading the article, it went into great detail explaining how the budget for the upcoming school year was put together and what were the priorities. You can then take a look at the Budget Presentation that the school administrators put together for its introduction that took place back on February 27th.

On Wednesday night this week (March 20th), the Middletown Board of Education will hold a public hearing on the budget, after which a vote will take place for its adoption.  

 Here's a snippet from the Independent article:

MIDDLETOWN — Declining property values throughout Middletown contributed significantly to the tax levy increase in this year’s district Board of Education budget.

Proposed at the Feb. 28 board meeting, the $147,856,250 budget represents a tax levy increase of $1,250,042 over last year, which would account for a $68.90 annual hike for residents with a home valued at the township average of $375,500.

That increase is offset, however, by a decrease in the district’s annual debt service payments caused by recent refinancing. The total taxpayer increase would stand at $53.24 per year, or $4.44 per month.

According to board professionals, much of the increase is due to the loss of $78 million in township tax assessment valuations throughout the past year....

The only issue that I have with this article and the budget presentation is it states that the tax levy will increase by $1.2M  due to the loss of $78M in property values caused by Hurricane Sandy. However, it does not give us the exact percentage of the increase, only saying that it keeps this years tax levy below the state mandated 2% cap. Based on my calculations that's correct, I figure the increase to be ~ 1.5%, which is fine. I just wish that the people putting this stuff together treated their intended audience as grown-ups and not children, you'll see what I mean when you examine the presentation.

The presentation goes to great length to explain how well the administrators have done over the past 3 years staying within the parameters of the mandated cap, using that argument to justify this years increase. I find this type of justification nauseating. I'd feel better about it if the school administration just stated the facts and not try to tippy-toe around the truth of the situation, which is, thanks to the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy throughout the township, property values are down and the school district can't make any further cuts to  the upcoming budget without severely effecting the education of our kids.

Knowing that the loss of  township property values is now at $78 million (as per the school budget) and the costs to clean up after Hurricane Sandy is in the millions of dollars, some of but not all of which, will be reimbursed at some point by the federal government and knowing that this years municipal budget should still be in the neighborhood of $65 million as in previous years, supported by a tax levy of nearly $45 million, I don't see how this year's budgeted tax increase will be below the state mandated 2% cap on property taxes.

Last year's tax cap increase was 1.97% and seeing how nothing significant has changed, we can use that as the baseline for this year's increased. Add to it an increase in the cost to health-care and other benefits along with all the clean-up costs associated with Hurricane Sandy and the $78 million hit taken from lost property values, I'd say that Middletown is looking at a budget increase of nearly 5% or more on top of our baseline, making this years increase in the neighborhood of 7% or potentially greater.

If this year's increase to the tax levy is going to be greater that 2% we should know within the next month or so. Middletown will need to ask its residents to approve the budget increase on Primary Day, June 4th.





  

Middletown School Budget Approved

Both the Independent and Middletown Patch have articles posted online  about the new budget for the Middletown school system.

On February 29th, a special meeting of the Middletown Board of Education(BOE) took place to introduce and propose the 2012-2013 Tentative School Budget.

According to both articles the school budget will increase by .98%, which would equate to roughly $2.6 million or about $46 a year on median homes assessed at $376,800.

In keeping this years tax rate increase so low, the BOE has the $851,000 increase in state aid to thank. Otherwise the tax increase would have been larger or more services or teaching positions may have need to be eliminated in order to stay below the state mandated 2% budget cap.

Instead, according to both the Independent and Middletown Patch, the BOE is using the increase in state aid to offset class size with additional teachers and another student services supervisor and provide for numerous curricular enhancements, including academic labs for high school students, which seems on the surface to be good things. But of course, like anything else, the devil is in the details and people should read through the budget before forming opinions, which at this point I have not done as of yet, but intend to do so.

In the mean time, on the surface this budget seems pretty good, but how it will effect the school system and the Township moving forward in the use of deferred taxes (which no one wants to address) will be interesting.

Many (not all) municipalities in NJ defer school taxes to help offset their own tax rate increases and at some point must return those taxes back to the school system. Some municipalities return the money to the local school systems promptly while others such as Middletown do not. Middletown currently owes its BOE over $60M in deferred taxes, the ramifications of which could be felt if the BOE needs to exceed the State's 2% cap mandate in the future.