For the tenth year in a row, the WW-P school budget has received a stamp of approval from voters – this time in both towns. At the same time, newcomer Todd Hochman very narrowly defeated incumbent Anjani Gharpure for a Plainsboro seat on the board, while Anthony Fleres was re-elected to his second term on the board.##M:[more]##
West Windsor John Farrell, who ran uncontested, was elected to fill the remainder of the term for the seat vacated by former school board member Stan Katz last year.
In West Windsor, 1,”053 residents approved of the $155.9 million 2009-’10 budget, while 801 voted against it. In Plainsboro, 586 residents voted “yes,” while 324 voted “no.” Only 11 percent of Plainsboro’s registered voters turned out to vote, with 1,”481 of the 13,”149 registered voters heading to the polls.
Traditionally, Plainsboro voters usually pass the budget, while West Windsor residents tend to vote it down. Last year, Plainsboro voters passed the budget 463 to 221. Voters in West Windsor failed it, with 730 approving it and 831 voting against it, but it was salvaged by the Plainsboro vote.
Although the proposed $134.79 million tax levy for the 2009-’10 budget is only a 0.5 percent increase over last year, Plainsboro residents will see a 9-cent increase in their school tax bills, while West Windsor residents would see a 5-cent increase.
The budget comes with a 1.6 percent, or $2.4 million, increase over last year, a smaller rate of increase than the average 4.3 percent increase the district sees on a yearly basis.
This is the first year that taxes will be assessed based on enrollment percentages, rather than equalized valuation.
However, school officials pointed out that because of varying calendars used by other agencies for tax collection, this year’s property tax bills will reflect the second part of last year’s taxes — which were still based on equalized valuation — and the first part of this year’s, which are based on enrollment.
Plainsboro taxpayers will be hit harder this year as a result of the new formula, bringing their school taxes back up to nearly the same level as in 2006. West Windsor residents make up 58.4 percent of the student body, while Plainsboro residents make up 41.6 percent. This is a jump from the percentages that were based on equalized valuation, where Plainsboro made up 37.8 percent of the tax base, and West Windsor made up 62.2 percent.
For a house assessed at $500,”000, the tax increases would translate into about a $450 increase in the tax bills for Plainsboro residents, and about $250 for those living in West Windsor.
There were four candidates vying for two seats in Plainsboro. According to figures sent from the Plainsboro Township Clerk’s office, incumbent Fleres received 570 votes, while challenger Hochman received 373 votes over incumbent Gharpure’s 359 votes. The clerk’s office figures showed challenger Shipra Mitra with 168 votes.
While producing the same outcome, figures on the WW-P school district’s website showed different vote counts. In those figures, Fleres received 577; Hochman received 378; Gharpure received 368; and Mitra received 171.
In West Windsor, Farrell received 1,”362 votes, the school district reported. Farrell, of Millbrook Drive, has lived there since 1992, with the exception of the three-year period Farrell and his family moved to Italy as a result of his job. They returned to the same home. He and his wife have two children — Connor, a senior, and the quarterback for South’s football team, and Colleen, in eighth grade at Grover Middle School.
Fleres, of Mifflin Court, a civil engineer, has lived with his wife, Maria, in Plainsboro since 1993. The couple has a son who is a high school sophomore and daughter who is in middle school in the WW-P school district. He holds a degree in civil engineering from the City College of New York, and an MBA from the University of Connecticut in 1980.
Todd Hochman, of Daisy Court, holds a law degree from St. John University, as well as a bachelor of science in applied mathematics and statistics and economics from the State University of New York, Stonybrook. Hochman currently works as a director of compliance for Prudential Financial in Iselin. He also serves as vice president of the Walker Gordon Farm Homeowners Association. He and his wife, Lisa, have two sons — one is a senior at High School South and the other attends Grover Middle School.
