Communities,
schools feeling cash crunch
State limits are painful. Local
boards, governments question why state doesn't control its
own spending.
Monday, April 03, 206 • By TERRENCE DOPP • The
Express-Times
TRENTON | Linda Heilman, White Township
chief school administrator, is hoping the third time is a
charm.
But with the past two school budgets
rejected by voters, she is edgy. Her district's $7.7 million
spending plan already contains cuts of five support staff,
in supplies and after- school programs.
It still comes in $293,000 over tougher
new state-mandated spending limitations.
"The bottom line is that it's a battle to
keep staff," Heilman said. "What I feel right now is that
the Legislature is shifting the tax burden, or the role of
the bad guy is being given to the school districts. We have
to raise the taxes to keep the schools going," she
added.
While the Legislature and governor have
not increased aid in five years to the state's 566
communities and 611 school districts, laws on the books
forbid those towns from growing their own budgets to keep
pace with rising salaries and costs.
'Height of hypocrisy'
No such spending caps exist for the
Legislature, which in fiscal year 2005 alone increased
spending by 17 percent.
"It's the height of hypocrisy. They think
these spending caps on municipal governments are a form of
property tax relief when the fact is they are perpetrating a
fraud on the public," said William Dressel, executive
director of the New Jersey State League of
Municipalities.
He and others argue the 120 state
legislators, in order to appear spendthrift, refuse to
loosen the purse strings for local governments.
"That's not honest government. It doesn't
make sense but politically it sounds good," he
said.
A wave of frustration by school and
municipal officials over the issue has been brewing in
recent years.
McGreevey produced caps
In former Gov. James E. McGreevey's
successful 2001 campaign, he focused on lowering New
Jersey's notorious real estate levies.
Under McGreevey, the Legislature placed
2.5 percent caps on municipal government and schools and
limited the latter to a 2 percent surplus.
During the timeframe, property taxes
soared 29 percent to a 2005 average of $5,867, according to
records. In all, New Jerseyans paid a collective $19.5
billion in property taxes last year, an increase of $1.1
billion over the previous year.
School and municipal officials, at times
at odds historically over their taxation roles, are finding
themselves on the same side in the debate.
A spokesman for the New Jersey School
Boards Association said service cuts are becoming common as
schools find it increasingly tough to pare down spending
growth.
Moving money around
"Unfortunately, budgets are becoming
somewhat cannibalized. And it's becoming a
rob-Peter-to-pay-Paul mentality," association spokesman Mike
Yaple said.
"You start to focus resources on core
programs but then you make cuts to other areas. You postpone
things like roof repairs or playground repairs. That's very
common."
Assemblyman Louis Greenwald, chairman of
the Assembly Budget Committee, denied the state has a
problem or has shifted the burden to the
communities.
Greenwald took over the budget panel in
January 2002. Since then, the committee and full Legislature
have expanded state debt from $15 billion to $32 billion and
raised spending from $23.4 billion to $28 billion, or about
17 percent, according to the Treasury Department.
He said pensions and benefits equal
roughly 20 percent of the state budget and grow each
year.
Currently, Greenwald's committee is
reviewing Gov. Jon Corzine's $30.9 million
budget.
Lance: Broaden the caps
Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance,
R-Hunterdon/Warren, said he voted for stricter municipal
caps two years ago during the McGreevey era and believes the
current outcry over caps is a growing pain.
He said some tweaks to the system are
needed, such as exempting large spikes in energy prices from
any limitations. Lance also called for allowing surpluses of
up to 4 percent.
"I think we should have spending caps at
all levels -- including the state," Lance said. "I don't
think they should be eliminated completely and I don't think
they will be."
Corzine's spending plan allots about $1
of every $3 to public schools.
It contains a proposal to increase the 6
percent sales tax to 7 and to expand it to include now
untaxed goods and services. Included in preliminary versions
of that list would be massages, limousine service,
landscaping and legal services.
In all, it would raise various taxes by
$1.8 billion if approved in its current state.
Terrence Dopp is Trenton correspondent for The
Express-Times. He can be reached at 609-292-5154.
© 2006 The Express-Times. Used with
permission.
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