surprise , surprise , surprise
Ridgewood Board of Ed won’t commit to a zero percent tax increase
Wednesday September 12, 2012, 3:49 PM
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News
A zero percent tax increase will be considered, but will not be a firm goal for the 2013-2014 school year budget.
At Monday’s Board of Education (BOE) meeting, an amendment to the BOE’s annual financial goals, which would have established a firm goal of a zero-percent increase, was proposed by board member Jim Morgan but was rejected in a 3-2 vote. Board member Christina Krauss also voted in favor of the amendment.
The amendment would have changed the district’s future budget goal from one that expresses openness to considering budgets which will result in property tax increases of zero percent, .5 percent, 1 percent, 1.5 percent and 2 percent – the state-mandated cap – to one that states that the BOE “will present a 2013-2014 District Budget with no increase in the property taxes.”
A 2 percent increase would mean a tax increase of a couple hundred dollars for the average homeowner (the average assessed home is about $800,000), based on estimations given in the Ridgewood Public Schools 2012-2013 budget presentation.
