Despite a big tax increase looming for Plainsboro, there seems to be almost unanimous support for the school budget up for a vote on Tuesday, April 19.##M:[more]## This is despite the fact that over the past two years Plainsboro has suffered significant school tax increases while West Windsor has seen only modest increases or (last year) even a small tax decrease.
While Plainsboro voters have voted to approve the school budget every year for the past 20 years, some are wondering whether there isn’t a better way to determine just who should shoulder the burden of school taxes in this two-township (and two-county) school district. Currently the state uses a complex formula based on each township’s real estate assessments. Some have advocated a return to the old ways of basing school taxes on the number of students each township sends to the district.
With the average Plainsboro homeowner likely to pay $1,”800 more in school taxes this year than in 2003, Plainsboro Township’s deputy mayor Neil J. Lewis says the time is right to study alternatives to the current system. “The current system is faulty and seems to be broken,” he says. “It doesn’t make sense for most communities in the state and it is showing its glaring problems over the last couple of years in Plainsboro.”
Prior to the mid-1970s, school taxes across the state of New Jersey were tabulated on a per-pupil basis. The more students a township sent to the school system, the higher the taxes would be for the residents of that community.
But in response to a Supreme Court decision in 1975, the Public School Education Act, Chapter 212, was passed by state legislators. This created a funding formula for public schools based on real estate assessments that was phased in over a four year period.
Critics have long contended that the state formula is unfair, allowing for erratic swings in tax burdens that have little to do with the fair contributions among taxpayers. Some have suggested that New Jersey follow the example of Michigan, which changed its school tax format in the mid-1990s from one based on real estate to cost per-pupil. In 1993 New Jersey passed a statute allowing a mechanism for regional school districts to go back to formulating taxes on a per-pupil basis. But because it is a difficult process, not a single district in the state has successfully made the change.
So far in West Windsor-Plainsboro there have been informal discussions among board members concerning the possibility of changing the way school taxes are divvied up between the two townships. Some have suggested that it may be better for each township to pay on a per-pupil basis.
“I would hope we would be able to get a system of distributing the tax burden that does not fluctuate quite so suddenly between the two townships,” says Liyou Yang of Plainsboro. “While over the long term it all balances out (in the current system), these sudden jumps from year to year give the perception that it is too much.”
According to the district’s statistics, the current system — for the time being — is close to balancing out. Plainsboro residents are paying 43 percent of the school taxes this year while supplying the schools with 42.3 percent of the student population. West Windsor taxpayers are paying 57 percent of the taxes and also have 57.7 percent of the student population.
District spokesperson Gerri Hutner says this relative equanimity is temporary. “Once the Toll Brothers residential development is fully built out (in West WIndsor) things could change.”
WW-P board member Henry Wieck, a Plainsboro resident, has said that the state’s tax formula remains a problem. “It’s been going on for years and years. A few years ago West Windsor was the one who felt they were disadvantaged. It’s a bad situation.”
“These kind of major budget swings are painful,” says Patricia Bocarsly, a Plainsboro resident and the board’s vice president. “The effects of the assessed value has shifted dramatically to Plainsboro and it has played out over the last two years with big increases. The revaluation this year has made it even harder.”
(Ellen Walsh, the fourth Plainsboro board member, did not return telephone calls.)
According to Vito A. Gagliardi, a Morristown attorney who regularly deals with such issues for public school districts, there are significant roadblocks a district faces when attempting to change to a per-pupil tax formula. “This is a hot topic right now,” he says, adding that many taxpayers across the state are facing tax frustrations similar to Plainsboro’s. While the 1993 statute permits townships within a regional school district to go back to the per-pupil tax formula, not a single district has been successful. “Many have tried over the years, the most recent was in January in Sussex, but they have failed one after the other,” says Gagliardi.
According to Gagliardi, the problem is that the law requires that in order to make a change in the tax formula a referendum must be approved by a majority of voters in both townships. “The voters from the township that is getting the better deal always votes against it,” he says.
Consequently, townships across the state are looking at other ways to make tax time fairer for tax payers residing in regional school districts. “Some townships have sought out special legislation in order to deal with the problem. Others have been breaking up regional school districts (including Union County Regional and Lower Camden County Regional Schools).”
Taxpayers in North Haledon, of the Manchester Regional School District, recently won a victory when state education commissioner ordered a revision of the system of funding for the Manchester Regional district in Passaic County. This resulted in a change of the apportionment formula from being based completely on property value to one that is based on property value and per-pupil enrollment. To be phased in over four years, the tax rate will drop 20.3 percent and its per-pupil cost will drop from the current $24,”800 to $19,”800.
But the North Haledon case is considered to be atypical because voters in the school district initially agreed to let North Haledon secede from the district. But that approval was later overturned by the Supreme Court because it created a racial imbalance in the district. The Supreme Court then ordered the state education commissioner to change the formula.
On April 19, the WW-P school district is asking voters to approve a $136 million budget, representing a 4.6 percent increase over the previous $130 million budget. But the average Plainsboro voter is being hit with a greater than 20 percent school tax increase while West Windsor voters are seeing only a minuscule 2.8 percent increase. The average Plainsboro homeowner will see his school tax increase $1,”200, while the average West Windsor homeowner will see his school tax increase by a mere $96.
(The average school tax bill in Plainsboro will rise from $4,”350 last year to $5,”609 this year. The average West Windsor homeowner, with a home valued at $240,”000, will see an increase from $6,”096 to $6,”192.)
Last year Plainsboro residents were met with a 29 cent school tax increase per $100 of assessed value while West Windsor residents had a 1.7 cent decrease. This Plainsboro residents are hit with a double whammy. In addition to the state tax formula, last year’s property revaluation has sharply added to this year’s bill as well. If the budget is approved by voters on Tuesday, April 19, the Plainsboro tax rate will be $1.42 per $100 of assessed value. Although this is 87 cents lower than last year’s rate of $2.29, the recently completed township-wide property revaluation will mean that the average Plainsboro homeowner will pay $1,”200 more in school taxes than last year.
“The revaluation has certainly had an effect,” says Borcarsly. “But the school budget increase has very little to do with the increase in taxes. People in Plainsboro understand that even with a zero percent budget increase they would still be getting hit with a big tax increase.”
Prior to the revaluation, the average Plainsboro home was assessed at $190,”700. That same home is now valued at $395,”000. Even though the tax rate went down, the end result will be that this year’s average tax bill will go from $4,”350 to $5,”600 for next year’s budget. (Plainsboro was ordered by the state to perform the property revaluation.)
Despite the big tax bill, it could have been worse for Plainsboro residents. Following the settlement of Plainsboro’s school tax lawsuit against the state and West Windsor, about $1 million in school tax obligations have shifted from Plainsboro taxpayers to West Windsor taxpayers. This is despite the fact that the settlement does not change the tax apportionment formula used by the two townships.
Traditionally, Plainsboro voters have overwhelmingly supported school budgets, supplying enough “yes” votes to more than compensate for West Windsor’s “no” votes in year’s past when its residents were met with big tax increases. District officials are keeping their fingers crossed that tax-weary Plainsboro residents don’t take their anger to the ballot box.
The 4.6 percent school budget increase is largely due to an increase the costs of salaries and benefits. The district is also projecting a 2 percent increase in enrollment, compared to last year’s 4 percent. Also required is the hiring of three new teachers and two new guidance counselors.
In addition, the district and board are looking at a possible referendum to take care of capital improvement projects. “It wouldn’t be a one time cost,” says Yang. “You have to finance it over a longer period of time as the buildings will serve the community over the many years ahead.”
Despite the heavy tax increases district officials are expecting residents of both townships to support the budget. “This year’s budget is solid and the process has been well planned,” says Yang. “It is a good budget that maintains all the key elements for the program.”
“We understand that it is a tight and good budget and this is the third one in a row the district has delivered,” says Bocarsly. “Our budget is modest compared to those of Princeton and Montgomery and we have the number one and number five rated high schools in the entire state.”
Lewis says that the school budget appears to be reasonable. “In today’s world, with the kind of increases that we have little control over, particularly employee medical insurance costs, the 4.6 percent increase seems to be a number that is relatively conservative,” he says. “We know the schools have a lot of challenges and offer a good product. My personal feeling is that it is a relatively tight budget.”
The Executive Board of the Village Grande Civic Association, an influential watchdog group that keeps close tabs on school and municipal spending habits, has officially supported the budget. “This is the third year in a row that such a positive vote has been recommended to all residents,” issued in a press release. “We support quality education at a reasonable cost.”
But while a referendum is in the works concerning capital improvements, there are currently no plans to seriously consider a referendum on overhauling the state tax formula. So Plainsboro voters may have to take solace in the fact that although the value of their homes has doubled, their taxes will not double from last year’s taxes.
Election Details
The district’s annual school election will be on Tuesday, April 19, with polls open from 7 a.m.to 9 p.m. In West Windsor, Richard Kaye, Adam Shrager, and Randy Tucker are vying for two seats while Patricia Bocarsly is running unopposed for her second term in Plainsboro.
West Windsor Polls: Grover Middle School, 10 Southfield Road, West Windsor, for voters in district numbers 1 and 11 as well as district numbers 3, 9, and 14. Village School, 601 New Village Road, West Windsor, for voters in district numbers 6, 8, 12, 13, and 15. High School South, 346 Clarksville Road, West Windsor, for voters in district numbers 2, 4, 5, 7, and 10.
Plainsboro Polls: Plainsboro Municipal Building for voters in district numbers 1-12.
In Other Races: Voters in Lawrence will see a name on their ballot that is familiar to West Windsor-Plainsboro residents. WW-P school spokesperson Gerri Hutner is running for a seat on the Lawrence school board. She has previously served on the Lawrence board. If elected to another term she will join several WW-P administrators who have served on boards in their hometowns.
