[ back ]
Fate of defeated budget in councils’ hands
(by Maggie Fazeli Fard - April 29, 2008)
In light of the defeat of the Pascack Valley Regional School budget earlier this month, officials from sending districts Hillsdale, Montvale, River Vale and Woodcliff Lake met last Wednesday, April 23 in hopes of negotiating a reduction “that all four towns can live with,” said River Vale Mayor Joseph Blundo.
“There were polarizing views,” reported Blundo at River Vale's council meeting on April 28. “After a somewhat, I don’t want to say tenacious, interesting meeting… a compromise was struck.”
The agreed upon reduction was a $368,000, or one percent, cut, which represents approximately half of the $800,000 increase proposed by the regional board of education (BOE).
The proposed regional school budget was defeated by the vote of 2,649 to 2,548, with Hillsdale being the only one of the four sending towns to vote against it. The budget called for total spending of $42,884,193, of which $38,799,193 would have been raised through taxation.
The budget would have caused an $11 increase on the averaged assessed home in Hillsdale, a $49 increase in Montvale, $119 in Woodcliff Lake, and a $48.45 decrease in River Vale.
Members of the regional BOE as well as the superintendent were in attendance; they agreed that the cut would come from the capital budget.
“We went in there looking to protect the educational part of the budget,” said River Vale Council President Glen Jasionowski, who also attended the meeting. He said that it is uncertain which capital projects would be affected by the reduction. “Once that cut is decided on, it’s back to the board of ed. to decide where it will come from.”
The clincher, however, is that the cut be determined. A majority of the councils of all four sending towns must vote in favor of the reduced budget in order for it to pass. If it does not pass, the budget would be reviewed by the county's superintendent of schools.
River Vale’s council expects to vote on the budget at its next meeting on Monday, May 12.
Maggie Fazeli Fard's e-mail address is fazelifard@northjersey.com.
[ back ]
