Brick School Board Introduces Tentative 2015-16 Budget

Brick Township Board of Education/Schools (Photo: Daniel Nee)

Several days after putting off the introduction of a tentative 2015-16 school budget, the Brick Township Board of Education chose to introduce a modified spending plan that will still be subject to revision before it is set in stone.

The board met Monday night after voting down a budget last Thursday. On Thursday, board members cited discrepancies between the budget they were presented to vote on and the documentation they had reviewed in committee meetings. The board’s finance committee had decided on a tentative budget that carried a 0.9 percent tax increase, but on the agenda for the meeting Thursday, were presented with a plan that included a 1.8 percent hike.

Business Administrator James Edwards said the budget presented to board members included both the 0.9 percent increase to the operating budget as well as an increase to the district’s debt service obligations that added up to another 0.9 percent increase in the tax levy.

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On Monday, the board met and introduced a tentative budget that kept the 0.9 percent increase tied to the debt service payments but did not include any additional spending on the operating side.

The 2015-16 budget, as introduced Monday, is $146,825,267 supported by a $100,000,721 tax levy. The budget includes $2,378,131 in debt service. Monday’s budget represents a reduction of $878,603 in the tax levy.

Board members will have until April 30 to make changes to the budget, since a public hearing will be held on that day before – presumably – the board will vote on its final passage.