Medford Lakes cuts could include staff and sports
The Board of Education approved a $7,187,381 preliminary budget that would make up for a decrease in state aid by making cuts and raising taxes. The district is receiving $897,594 in state aid for the 2010-11 school year, a 26.9 percent decrease from 2009-10.
The cuts would include support staff positions, improvement projects, tutoring programs and possibly sports programs. Staff pay raises would be capped at 2 percent, while reductions would be made elsewhere. Spending for speech services and professional development is being reduced. A student tutoring and homework help program will be eliminated along with improvement projects.
Administrators also were asked by the board to find a way to cut another $50,000.
The fate of the district's sports programs will be determined by voters. Rather than eliminate $37,982 in funding outright, members opted to leave the decision up to the community with a referendum at the polls on April 20.
If the budget is approved by voters, the 2010-11 tax levy would be $5,241,563. The owner of a home assessed at the borough average of $289,864 would pay an additional $190.11 in school taxes, without the inclusion of the sports programs. Approval of the referendum would raise property taxes higher.
A public hearing on the budget will be held March 29 at 7 p.m. at the Neeta School. A full article about the preliminary budget will be printed in Monday's Burlington County Times.
BCT staff writer Kristen Coppock can be reached at (609) 871-8073 or kcoppock@phillyBurbs.com.
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