Charges fly in budget talks Phillipsburg council president accuses school district of being 'disingenuous' over cuts. Wednesday, May 16, 2007 • By DANIEL HAUSMANN • The Express-Times PHILLIPSBURG | Council President Dave DeGerolamo renewed his call for school administration cuts Tuesday night and accused district officials of hiding an ace up their sleeve. Because voters rejected the 2007-08 school budget, council gets to recommend spending cuts. At the May 1 council meeting, DeGerolamo said he wanted to cut $161,000 in administrative costs. During a May 8 joint meeting of the school board and council, Superintendent Gordon Pethick said the district's business office found nearly the same amount through retirements and a Warren County Special Services District tuition rebate. But DeGerolamo contends school officials knew about that extra money long before May 8. "It's disingenuous for them to tell us they just found that (money) before our meeting," DeGerolamo said. "They're playing games with the education of our students." DeGerolamo had an April 4 letter from the Warren County Special Services District to Phillipsburg School Business Manager Bill Poch explaining the $68,000 tuition rebate. DeGerolamo said the school board also approved nearly all the staff retirements before the end of April, the second area of savings that Pethick cited. DeGerolamo said he would recommend council use the $160,000-plus saving to beef up the elementary school security staff and cut the same amount from school administration. He declined to name what positions he would cut but said those staff members could fill other vacancies in the district. Reached by phone Tuesday night, Pethick said he couldn't understand DeGerolamo's motivation. "It sounds to me like he's intent on cutting an administrator," Pethick said. "That's not his role to do that." Pethick said the district provided information in good faith. Council will formalize its recommended cuts Thursday night and send those to the state Department of Education for approval. The school board can appeal those cuts. Councilman John Damato said that from his experience he's not too confident the state will help out. "No matter what we recommend, when it goes down to the state, someone says, 'Tough bananas, we're not going to cut anything,'" Damato said. If council cuts $160,000 from the school budget, that could reduce the average property owner's tax hike by $17. The current proposed rate would hike school taxes by $62. Reporter Daniel Hausmann can be reached at 610-258-7171 or by e-mail at dhausmann@express-times.com. © 2007 The Express-Times. Used with permission.