Politics & Government

Central Regional Budget Review Slated for Tonight

Voters defeated tax levy portion of budget by 106 votes

Township officials from all five sending districts of the Central Regional school system will sit down tonight to hash out what to pare from the defeated school budget.

"As long as it's something the Board of Education can live with and tolerate, we will probably accept it," schools Business Administrator/Board Secretary Kevin O'Shea said.

The public meeting gets underway at 6 p.m. in the Central Regional High School presentation room, which is next to the media center.

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"It's a special board meeting," O'Shea said. "It's really a defeated budget meeting."

The defeated budget already called for the elimination of four foreign language teachers, three child study team members and two buildings and grounds employees. Those jobs are already gone, O'Shea said.

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"We are in a tough spot with the two percent cap," he said. "We had no extra money."

The Central Regional school districts has two schools - Central Regional High School and Central Regional Middle School. It accepts students from Berkeley Township, Ocean Gate, Island Heights, Seaside Heights and Seaside Park.

Although voters in Island Heights, Seaside Heights and Ocean Gate approved the $27,489,152 tax levy portion of the Central Regional $33,252,531 budget on April 27, it went down in Berkeley Township and Seaside Park. The total vote was 2,485 to 2,379.

Schools Superintendent Triantafillos "Tom" Parlapanides and O'Shea will give presentations to the township officials. That will be followed by a public comment period. Then township officials from all five districts will go behind closed doors to discuss possible cuts" O'Shea said.

"We won't adjourn the meeting," he said. "It's sort of a recess."

"Generally speaking, they (municipal officials) have always made cuts," O'Shea added.

School taxes on a home in Berkeley Township assessed at the township average of $201,400 would have risen $0.94 cents per month. Seaside Park residents with a home assessed at the borough average of $558,160 would have seen the largest increase, at $20.65 per month.

The budget approval would have meant a hike of $18.74 a month for an Island Heights home assessed at the borough average of $388,981, primarily because of an influx of 15 additional students into the Central Regional school system.

Seaside Heights would have seen the only decrease — 78 cents per month on a home assessed at the borough average of $302,035. Ocean Gate property owners with an average assessed home value of $242,300 would pay an extra $3.13 per month.

The district is hampered by the small amount of state aid it receives. Central Regional only receives 11 percent state aid to fund the budget each year, unlike some other districts that receive much more, Parlapanides has said.


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