At its April 27 meeting, the Eastern Camden County Regional School District Board of Education passed the 2016–2017 school year budget.
For a Voorhees homeowner with an average assessed home value at $256,188, the annual Eastern Regional High School District tax bill will increase about $80.
The budget totals $37.7 million, with the total amount to be raised by taxes at $24.6 million.
Although each of Eastern’s three constituent sending districts contributes different amounts of money to Eastern depending on their number of students in the district, this year the overall tax levy in the budget will rise 3.18 percent.
Although the state mandates that school district’s cannot increase the tax levy more than 2 percent from the prior year without a separate vote from the public, Eastern is able to go above the cap without a public vote due to the use of banked cap. Banked cap is the rule where school districts “bank” unused amounts of tax levy funds that the district could have raised in a previous year if it were under the state-mandated 2 percent limit at that time.
Those funds are then available for three years, at which time the oldest year drops off and is replaced by the newest year.
“There’s no need for the taxpayers to vote, so we’re very proud of the fact that we’ve been able once again to provide the right budget which continues our programs but at the same time is fiscally responsible,” Superintendent Harold Melleby Jr. said.
This year, Eastern also received $9.4 million in state aid, an increase of $26,313 from the previous year. However, that number is still below the $9.9 million Eastern received in the 2009–2010 school year before cuts took place throughout the state the following year.
District business administrator and board secretary Diana Schiraldi said the budget maintains all of the district’s instructional programs, athletic programs, student activities and staffing levels.
Fees for sports participation will also remain at current levels of $125, and there are no new fees imposed for any other activity.
“That’s always a good thing when you don’t have to make any kind of major cuts in the budget,” Schiraldi said.
Schiraldi said the budget includes three new stipend positions, including two positions for the freshman studies program to give freshmen added support during the implementation of the new bell schedule, which will start at Eastern next school year.
The other stipend position is an additional assistant for the fall cheerleading program due to an increase in participation rates.
Other expenditures in the budget include the next round of textbook replacements for the subjects of health, business and industrial arts.
Some noteworthy capital projects in the budget include concrete work in Eastern’s courtyard area, the replacement of outdated auditorium house lights with more energy-efficient LED lighting, the replacement of the press box on the grandstand and the replacement of lockers in team rooms and student locker rooms where necessary.
Design work for renovations to Eastern’s culinary arts classroom is also planned, with work scheduled to be out for bid by December or January and completed by the start of the 2017 school year.
Melleby said the current facility has issues with ventilation and needs electrical upgrades, and the district would like to install more cooking stations and a demonstration lab.
“The facility is actually very dated, so we’ve been talking about this, and the enrollments have been very strong because a lot kids like to cook and make food and get a chance to eat in class,” Melleby said.
