An average assessed home of $491,359 in the borough will see an increase of $194.40 in school taxes per year, or $16.20 per month, according to Business Administrator Dawn Leary.
The 2013–2014 school budget was unanimously adopted by present board members with a 1.98 percent tax levy increase at the Thursday, March 21 Board of Education meeting.
“We did not go up to the full 2 percent,” Leary said.
Ratables are down more than $19 million, which affects the whole budget, she said.
There was, however, a slight increase in state aid of $32,348.
Now, the budget will be sent to Camden County for final approval, which completes the budget process for the year, said Superintendent Dr. Richard Perry.
View the complete budget breakdown, along with presentations, by visiting http://www.haddonfield.k12.nj.us.
Perry plans to make recommendations to the buildings and grounds committee to move forward with security initiatives, including the installation of duress alarms in the district’s three elementary schools.
“It puts the whole process in place with just the push of a button,” he said.
The change would be part of the first round of security upgrades.
While there are phases to the plan, it is never actually a done deal, he said.
“(Security is) something that’s ongoing,” he said. “This isn’t the end.”
Board president resigns
In a letter read into the record by Perry, Board President Steve Weinstein, who was absent from the meeting, announced his resignation. He will continue in his role as a board member until the end of his term next January and will not seek re-election.
“I will miss serving with him, but it was an honor for me to do so,” Perry said. “Steve is the best I’ve ever served with.”
Weinstein took a position as general counsel vice president at Rowan University in December and attributed the new job to his decision.
“The demands of this position do not permit me to devote time necessary to continue my responsibilities as board president,” Weinstein said in the letter.
Glenn Moramarco was nominated and elected to replace Weinstein as board president at the meeting.
“I know they’re very big shoes to fill,” he said.
To replace Moramarco as vice president, Andrew Berlin was chosen by the board.
Turf bid
It was announced at the meeting that a $948,000 bid came in from LandTek for construction of the turf at Anniversary and Stadium fields. The borough will front $333,000 of the cost and the school board will pitch in $614,000. According to Perry, the turf committee raised more than $630,000 for the fields.
Originally, the goal was a bid of $1,100,000.
“That’s good in that there’s money available from what the turf committee raised to take care of extra items that we may have to put on the fields,” Perry said.
Discussions are to come on future maintenance and replacement costs.
Construction will begin after the track season at Anniversary Field on approximately May 20. The football field’s construction is planned for after graduation on or about June 18.
The expected completion date is Aug. 23, with a ceremony planned for the Sept. 12 home football game, Perry said.
Savvy speakers
Several students were recognized for their academic accomplishments at the meeting.
Central School’s Andrew Pasco, a fifth-grader, won first place in the elementary category of the Foreign Language Educators of New Jersey’s Annual Podcast Competition.
Hailing from Elizabeth Haddon Elementary School, second graders Thea Spellmeyer and Rex Cottone put together a doctor/patient podcast, ranking second runner up in the competition.
Sophia Kurtz, an eighth-grader at Haddonfield Middle School who has practiced Spanish for more than five years, ranked as first runner-up in the podcast’s middle school category.
At the high school level, Courney Lenny and Robert Rizzuto were named scholarship winners for the 2013 Foreign Language Educators of NJ Scholarship for German.
