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No cuts proposed despite failed budget
(by Erin Patricia Griffiths - May 13, 2008)
The failure of Hillsdale’s school budget proposals at the polls on April 15 led many to believe that cuts would have to be made to the public schools.
Instead a surprise proposal came from Councilman Max Arnowitz, chairman of the finance committee, when he recommended no cuts for the Hillsdale Public Schools at the May 6 borough meeting. Arnowitz began his announcement by saying, “I think I’m going to shock you all on this.” The remarks that followed were indeed a surprise to many.
Arnowitz explained that after speaking with Hillsdale Superintendent of Schools Anthony DeNorchia, reviewing the budget number several times, and sitting down with the finance committee that he could state with confidence, “I am recommending, and I believe I have full concurrence with the finance committee that I recommend to this council, that there be no cut to the local school budget.”
Arnowitz believes that the Hillsdale budget failed as a result of a last minute misunderstanding over the Pascack Valley Regional Board of Education’s proposed budget, which was also defeated at the polls and will see a one percent reduction. Many Hillsdale residents were opposed to a plan to install lights on the Pascack Valley football field, and many believed the lights were added to the budget as a last minute surreptitious capital project, when in fact the lights were already funded through previous budgets and some donations. While the project has nothing to do with the local schools, Arnowitz thinks the lack of public confidence in the regional budget may have snowballed down to the local level.
As presented to the voters, the Hillsdale School budget calls for a $179 increase on the average assessed home of $579,000 in the borough. The expected $100,000 savings that the district will realize from a switch to privatized custodial services will go towards replenishing the district’s surplus.
Arnowitz said he is pleased with the local school board and its consistent efforts over the years to monitor operating costs and expenses. Mayor John Sapanara further supported these remarks by informing the council that out of the 75 school districts in Bergen County, only 18 are under the adequacy amount that is established by the state board of education, and Hillsdale is one of the municipalities coming in under the benchmark each year.
He added, “That is a really remarkable achievement, considering that no one else in the Pascack Valley has that particular distinction.”
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