Preliminary Ridgewood school budget would increase taxes by $195
March 13, 2015 Last updated: Friday, March 13, 2015, 9:44 AM
By Darius Amos
Staff Writer |
The Ridgewood News
The Ridgewood Board of Education (BOE) has approved a preliminary $101 million budget covering the 2015-16 school year, which, if adopted as is next month, would essentially boost the average property tax bill by approximately $195.
A resolution unanimously passed by school board trustees on Wednesday will send the spending plan to the county superintendent for review.
The preliminary budget, as proposed this week, will put taxpayers on the hook for an $87.9 million general fund levy, which represents a flat 2 percent increase over last year’s tax levy.
Tax amounts are based on an average assessed home value of $690,662.
“It is painful to a lot of citizens to have a tax increase every year,” said BOE member Vince Loncto, noting that roughly 75 percent of Ridgewood households do not have children in the school system. “For those people, it’s important to understand that everyone moves to Ridgewood for the schools. That’s what drives the property values. Even if kids are beyond school age, you benefit from [the school system].
“It’s important to maintain the level of the schools,” he added. “You can see that the money is being well spent and is for the benefit of the people with kids in the school system and also those without.”
https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/ridgewood-school-district-presents-101m-budget-1.1288613
Hey Vince , We no longer have better schools than the surrounding towns, as proven by test scores. It’s Bergen county and people with no kids like to live here because we have a nice downtown, rear yard garbage pickup , and lots of ordinances to prevent your neighbor from not maintaining their property or turning it into a storage space for trucks and boats.
For once, Cut some spending.