SPECIAL MEETING
JOINT MEETING OF THE TOWNSHIP COUNCIL OF THE TOWNSHIP OF OLD BRIDGE
AND THE
OLD BRIDGE BOARD OF EDUCATION
May 7, 2001
A Special Meeting of the Township Council of the Township of Old Bridge and the Old Bridge Township Board of Education was held in the Municipal Complex on Monday, May 7, 2001. The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by Vice-president Butler who invited all in attendance to participate in a salute to the flag which was followed by a short prayer.
Roll call by Deputy Clerk Stella Ward showed the following answering present: Councilmen Greene, Redmond, Sohor, Testino, Councilwoman Hegarty, Vice-president Butler.
Absent: Councilmen Cucchiara (arrived at 6:30 p.m.), Hoff, President Maher (arrived at 6:45 p.m.).
Mr. Eugene Farrell (auditor) read the statement regarding the advertisement of this meeting and its purpose. Roll call by School Board Secretary showed the following answering present:
Bonk, DiRocco, Hopman, Kubicke, McDermott, McLaren, Rossi, Volkert, Weber
Resolution - Defeated 2001-02 Budget
BE IT RESOLVED, by the Township Council of the Township of Old Bridge, County of Middlesex, State of New Jersey that:
WHEREAS, the voters in the school board election held on April 17, 2001 defeated the Budget proposed by the Old Bridge Township School District:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Township Council of the Township of Old Bridge as follows:
The Township Council hereby declares the budget as approved
Provides the amounts necessary to provide a thorough and efficient system of schools in the District.
BE IT RESOLVED that one certified copy of this resolution including the individual line item reductions be filed with the Township Board of Education, two copies with the Middlesex County Superintendent of Schools, and one copy to the Middlesex County Board of Taxation and local Tax Assessor.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this resolution shall be deemed the certification of this governing body to the Middlesex County Board of Taxation (as required by NJSA 18:12-37)
of the amount or amounts which this Municipal Council has determined to be necessary to provide a thorough and efficient system of Schools in the School District of said Township of Old Bridge for the Calendar year, commencing January 1, 2001 and terminating December 31, 2001.
SCHOOL TAX LEVY FOR CALENDAR YEAR 2001
Amount Required for FY2001/2002 Amount to be included in 2001 Tax Levy
1. General Fund $ 59,497,358.00 $ 29,748,679.00
2. Debt Service 0 0
3. Total $59,497,358.00 $29,748,679.00
4. Balance of 2000-01 $27,280,102.00
5. Total 2001 Tax Levy $57,028,781.00
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Township Council recommended Line Item Cuts in the Defeated School Budget for FY 2001/02 be included as follows:
Moved by Councilman Testino, seconded by Councilman Redmond and so ordered on the following roll call vote:
AYES: Councilmen Greene, Redmond, Sohor, Testino, Councilwoman Hegarty, Vice-president Butler.
NAYS: None.
ABSTAIN: Councilman Cucchiara
ABSENT: Councilman Hoff, President Maher
Prior to the roll call vote the following discussion took place:
Vice-president Butler: I would like to apologize that I was not in attendance for the first meeting but I got tied up on a business appointment. I do understand that you made a lot of progress at that meeting and that you are ready to make a recommendation.
Councilman Testino: I believe the committee also has a recommendation.
Councilman Redmond: We met last week with the Board of Education and it turned out to be a very fruitful meeting. Dr. Quirk told us that he had found some areas where he had not anticipated some funding sources, some retirements and other things and he was able to find $300,000 and Gene Farrell will fill us in as to where the other money came from and when the night was over, we had come to an agreement and I would like to recommend that when Gene is finished with his explanation that we have a resolution here and it outlines what we are going to be voting on and I want to thank the members of the board for their cooperation and I think it went very smoothly and Gene played a great part in it as well as Dr. Quirk and Dr. Rodriguez and they should have a good deal of the credit.
Councilman Testino: Just so we are clear a two cent reduction of the proposed rate for the school budget is agreed to by the board and perhaps you can tell us how it is going to work under the lease/purchase agreement.
Eugene Farrell: Basically, what we did was take a look at the boards financial condition and see if there were any areas where we could reduce the tax levy to the residents without jeopardizing the fiscal integrity of the board itself or having a negative impact upon the programs. As Larry has stated, during the review there was some instances where there was some breakage between retirees and new hires where we could take advantage and which equated to a savings of approximately $300,000.00 or one tax point. To understand it if you take a look at the financial position of the board, they utilized almost all their surplus and as of the end of March, they only had a $19,000.00 balance. We recognized their fiscal plight and in addition and if we wanted to make significant reductions on the overall tax rate it would have a direct impact on the programs that were currently offered by the school system. What we did was review all the opportunities where we felt we could have an impact on the tax rate itself and when we were reviewing their capital projects contained within the capital outlay portion of the budget, one of the recommendations was that if we could utilize a lease/purchase with the township basically holding the lease, the township would utilize their bonding capacity to secure the money. It is a much cheaper way of financing capital improvements as an alternative. As a result the committee felt it was a strong opportunity and we called the board members and Dr. Quirk and Dr. Rodriguez reviewed the plan and they took that information to the board and the board pretty much accepted it and that is where we are today. I think that we will accomplish the goals established, again without impacting the fiscal integrity of the board itself and also without having any impact on the programs that are being offered by the district.
Dr. Quirk: I just want to emphasize that the money that we were able to identity was as a result of things that occurred after the budget was struck. We still have people announcing retirements so it was not something that was in there but rather occurred after the budget. Again, this will not affect programs or services in any way.
Vice- President Butler: Dr. Quirk are you on a calendar or fiscal year?
Dr. Quirk: We are on a fiscal year.
Vice-president Butler: Well, if the committee is in agreement and the Board of Education concurs, I think that we can vote on this matter now.
Councilman Testino: I think it should be noted that Roman was there filling in for you Reggie, so I think we had a good contingent of council members and we all are in concurrence with the board. Also, I had polled the other council members and they are also in agreement.
Attorney Ruggierio: The only question is how the meeting was advertised and if it were advertised as a special meeting then you can vote on it.
Councilman Greene: Since what was mentioned in the newspapers that there was a tentative agreement, I have had a few inquiries and I just wanted to make it clear that we are not cutting the budget, there was a four cent tax increase proposed by the Board of Education and both committees were able to identify ways in which to save the Board of Education money and at the same time not cut services or programs. An example of this was, as Mr. Farrell stated, if you were going to remodel your kitchen you could take money from your savings account or you could actually take a loan, which in fact is what we are doing in order to save money for the next years budget. We identified items that were legitimate capital purchases and issued a debt for that to save money for next year. I just wanted to comment on that and insure that in no way are we cutting the budget, we are just able to identify means in which to save two cents.
Councilman Testino: Do we have to introduce an ordinance with this?
Mr. Farrell: You have been provided with a resolution and it has to be adopted by the governing body. You have to adopt the resolution as it applies to the school budget and it has to be forwarded to the County Board of Taxation and at some point in time when the lease/purchase is impacting on next year's fiscal period for the school, Mr. Shah will provide the information.
Himanshu Shah: We will work with Dr. Quirk to get this prepared as soon as possible.
Councilman Testino: We want to have that introduced as early as possible.
Mr. Farrell: The other thing is the amortization period on the lease/purchase agreement so they can take advantage of the five year period, and Himanshu will work that out.
Himanshu Shah: Once we get everything worked out with Dr. Quirk, we will bring it to the Council.
Councilman Testino: Can this be done by our next meeting?
Himanshu Shah: That depends on the board, we will be ready.
Vice-president Butler: Do we have anyone else who would like to speak on this matter?
Mr. Rao: I have a question the 1998 School Board Budget was $86 million dollars and the budget for 2001 is $98 million dollars. My question is for the increase of $12 million dollars how many students increase their academic scores from a C to an A?
Vice-president Butler: I will let Dr. Rodriguez answer your question.
Dr. Rodriguez: We have over ten thousand students in the district. These students take approximately six classes each, it would be impossible to have those figures for you here this evening. You can come to my office and we will be more than happy to sit down with you and discuss your questions and provide you with some statistics on this matter.
Vice-president Butler: I just want to say that I am very happy that this was worked out in a short period of time and thank you again for your efforts.
Dr. Rodriguez: I will accept a motion to move this matter as an action item as follows:
Move that the Board accept the Municipal Council's reduction for 2001/2002 school budget in the amount of $607,000 and approve the line item reductions stated in the resolution.
Seconded and approved by an all "aye" vote of the Board of Education
Motion
Motion to have the Finance Director along with Dr. Quirk and Mr. Farrell prepare the items necessary for the lease/purchase agreement and have it on the agenda as quickly as possible made by Councilman Testino, seconded by Councilman Redmond and so moved on the following roll call vote:
AYES: Councilmen Cucchiara, Greene, Redmond, Sohor, Testino, Councilwoman Hegarty, Vice-president Butler.
NAYS: None.
ABSENT: Councilman Hoff, President Maher.
Motion to adjourn at 6:35 p.m. made by Councilman Testino, seconded by Councilman Redmond and so ordered on the following roll call vote:
AYES: Councilmen Cucchiara, Greene, Redmond, Sohor, Testino, Councilwoman Hegarty, Vice-president Butler.
NAYS: None
ABSENT: Councilman Hoff, President Maher
Dennis M. Maher, Council President
Rose-Marie Saracino, Township Clerk
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