To the Editor:
Residents Air Gripes
Over School Budget
For the West Windsor-Plainsboro School Board the public question regarding the approval of increased funds is misleading and shameful. The ballot asks for the approval of general funds of $140,027,454.
It increases the budget much more than the 2 percent approved by the governor. We in West Windsor are paying the highest property tax in the nation and the state. Yet the school board is seeking approval of an increase in taxes with surreptitious and deceptive means.
If they want to flaunt the governor’s direction, they should ask clearly that we in West Windsor want to increase the property tax much more than the mandated increase of 2 percent. And then let the public decide.
Pawan K. Jain
Ellsworth Drive
News: ‘Negligent’
Why does your newspaper make the headline a 2.5 percent increase when that is a misleading average number impacted by the drop in total ratables in the townships?
Most residents did not have a decrease in their assessment. Therefore the increase will be 4.9 percent in Plainsboro for portion of the tax bill that is for schools. This is the increase percentage for most people in Plainsboro so why do you make the headline 2.5 percent?
This is misleading and it appears you are negligent in your duties as a reporter.
Rick Zoog
22 Beechtree Lane, Plainsboro
Editor’s note: In fact the proposed budget called for a 1.8 percent increase in spending. However, because of declines in other revenue, the budget required a tax increase of 2.5 percent (the basis of the headline in our April 15 edition). The story was complicated further by changes in home valuations and formulas for sharing between the two townships that caused the tax rate to increase by an average of 4.9 percent.
