Budget also features 5-cent tax rate hike
SOMERS POINT — One page of the Somers Point Board of Education budget presentation stood out among the rest, starkly telling the tale of the district’s fiscal situation for 2024-25.
Detailing the effects of state aid cuts and the loss of COVID funding, the page lists: 12 certified staff position non-renewed, 1 certified staff position attrition, Multi-Tiered System of Support gutted, postponed or canceled capital projects, 4.45% tax levy (increase), 10% reduction in all supply accounts, $250,000 maintenance reserve withdrawal, significant 2023-2024 grant funding carryover budgeted in 2024-2025.
Interim Superintendent Chris Kobik, business administrator Mary Conroy and consultant Mark Leung presented the budget to the public April 25, noting the continued struggles the district faces under the Student Funding Reform Act of 2018. The district received $6.1 million in state aid for 2018-19 and just $2.1 million for 2024-25, a loss of more than $4 million, or 66 percent, in just seven years.
“I’m not happy to report that the cuts are to the bone. We’ve had a very difficult week,” Kobik said. “We have worked together on some very negative non-renewals of staff that we admire and have given much to the school district and community.”
The district mounted a letter-writing campaign to the Legislature, appealing for more funding.
“We have fought — the SPEA has chipped in, the Education Foundation, PTO, board, parents returned a stack of letters to my office that are on their way to Trenton,” Kobik said. “Our voice has been heard with other school districts getting cut too, and we will continue to fight to get funds to be able to hopefully review some of those staff cuts.
“Why some? Because renewing all of them with the way the pending legislation is written, doesn’t provide us with enough money and creates a bigger fiscal cliff in 2025-26. The last thing I want to do is leave Somers Point with a fiscal surprise cliff a year from now.”
Jordan Road School Principal Ted Pugliese has been hired to replace Kobik as superintendent effective July 1.
The outgoing administrator said the district is “going to need to pull together with some of the consequences of these non-renewals. We’re going to have to rethink some important programatic elements including how we provide intervention through the MTSS structure.”
“The staff is going to have to pull together with the board and the administration, and parents are going to have to have their voices heard to make sure that students are still getting the support and the help that they need,” Kobik said.
He said sticking with the cuts now would be better in the long term.
“The budget is a road map to a more fiscally stable future for Somers Point,” Kobik said. “This won’t be easy next year. We’ll have to roll up are shirtsleeves and do some work to provide the best education for students that we can. But I think moving forward in the years to come that we will be better off for it.”
The $19,086,180 budget for 2024-25 includes a general fund of $15,093,396, a special reserve fund of $3,029,721 and debt service of $955,670.
The general fund is made up of the $11,072,129 tax levy (up $500,279), $2,366,186 in state aid, $1,166,828 in fund balance, $250,000 in maintenance reserve, $210,200 in miscellaneous revenue and $28.053 in special education aid.
The local school tax rate increased 5 cents from 98.74 cents to $1.0375 per $100 of assessed value. That equates to a tax bill of $2,205.80 on an average assessed home worth $212,587, an increase of $122.80 for the year.
In addition, the Mainland Regional High School Board of Education adopted its budget the same night, calling for a 1.1-cent increase for Somers Point to 75.4 cents per $100 of assessed value. That equates to $1,602.90 on an average assessed home.
Somers Point City Council also adopted it budget April 25 with a 1.47-cent increase in the municipal tax rate to $1.1237. That amounts to an increase of $31.25 on an average assessed home of $212,587, for a total municipal tax bill of $2,388.84.
Therefore, Somers Point taxpayers will see a tax bill of $6,197.54, not including the county tax.
Enrollment continues to fall. The district had 1,204 students in fall 2009 and just 672 in fall 2023, a loss of 532 students, or 44 percent.
Debt service is also a factor in the budget. Payment on bonds issued in 2011 and 2016 for capital improvements amount to $963,063 this year, falling to $903,920 in 2025-26 and $720,525 in 2026-27 when the 2011 bonds are paid off.
– By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff