Gloucester City Local School Tax Increases by $59 Annually; Overall Budget Decreases by $1.5M
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
William E. Cleary Sr. | CNBNewsnet
GLOUCESTER CITY NJ (May 29, 2018)(CNBNewsnet)--The Gloucester City Board of Education approved the School District's 2018-19 budget in March that totals $47,042,793 or $1,549,182 less than last year's total of $48,591,975.
A CNBNews OPRA (Open Public Records Act) request revealed that the new spending plan calls for an increase of $59 annually in the local school tax on an average home assessed at $108,000. A further breakdown disclosed the total amount of school taxes for a homeowner assessed at the average amount in 2018-19 will be $1,303 in school taxes compared to $1,244 in 2017-18.
Capital improvements planned for the new fiscal year include the following expenditures:
$500,000 Cold Springs School- HVA upgrades
$247,000 Early Childhood Center-Exterior renovation to asphalt, concrete, playground and stadium
$75,000 Interior renovations to walls, windows, floors, ceilings
a.) Early Childhood Center-floor resurface.....$40,000
b.)Cold Springs School-floor replaced...........$35,000
$106,000 New Gloucester City Middle School renovations not covered by the state of New Jersey
$120,000 Offline and disposition costs for vacated Mary Ethel Costello School and Highland Park School buildings
TOTAL AMOUNT of all capital improvements -$1,048,700
CNBNews Note-The taxpayers have already spent $1,001,000 on the Cold Springs School HVAC system over the past two years, according to Margaret McDonnell, district business administrator; $532,000 in 2017-18 and $469,000 in 2016-17.
The district pays on average approximately $4 million plus a month for employee salaries and benefits.
An OPRA request for a breakdown of the number of employees by position provided by Ms. McDonnell, Business Administrator uncovered the following:
2017-2018 2018-2019
a.) Administrators…. 17 17
b. ) Teachers 211 206
c.) Custodians 31 31
d.) Paraprofessionals 64 57
e.) Security 5 5.5
The total amount of salaries for each position for the years listed disclosed the following:
2017-2018 2018-2019
a.) Administrators $2,013,902 $2, 069,730 plus $55,828
b. ) Teachers 15,311,395 14,996,029 minus $315,366
c.) Custodians 1,250, 265 1,246,737 minus $3,528
d.) Paraprofessionals 2,109,347 1,936,655 minus $172,692
e.) Security 166,903 186,515 plus $19,612
The total number of students, which includes full-time, special education, private, and students in state facilities, total 2,156 or 23 more than last year's number of 2,133. Of that total 342 students are enrolled in the pre-school program.
The total cost for educating each student equals $21,819 (budget total $47,042,793 divided by total number of students 2,156).
A copy of the district's budget can be found here
CNBNews graphics file
A further breakdown of the figures provided by Gloucester City Financial Officer Frank Robertson is below.
(click to enlarge images)