Warren sees five defeated budgets

Two years ago, Oxford Township voters approved a school budget that included a tax increase.

Last year, they signed off on a spending plan that reduced taxes.

But when the elementary school district asked voters Tuesday to approve a budget that would not alter their taxes, township residents shot it down by eight votes, according to unofficial tallies.

"I don't know if I'm ever going to get a handle on why a budget like ours was defeated," said Bob Magnuson, chief school administrator at Oxford Central School.

The Oxford budget was one of five school spending plans in Warren County rejected by voters in Tuesday's election. Oxford's was the only one without a proposed tax increase.

With losing margins ranging from 3 to 45 votes, other defeated budgets were in Alpha, Hackettstown, Hope Township and the Great Meadows Regional School District. Voters approved 18 school budgets in Warren County, unofficial results show.

The municipal governing bodies associated with those five school districts must now review the rejected budgets, according to Mike Yaple, spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards Association.

The municipality can leave the budgets as is, or demand dollar figures to cut and recommend specific areas to trim, Yaple said.

School boards must abide by the amount of requested money to cut, but they have the discretion to decide on where to make the reductions, Yaple said.

School boards also could appeal municipal decisions to the state, he said.

Most budgets passed

Some 73 percent of local school budgets across the state passed Tuesday, an impressive sign given the grim economic times, New Jersey Commissioner of Education Lucille E. Davy said.

"I'm extremely pleased to see that nearly three-quarters of budgets passed yesterday," Davy said Wednesday during a conference call with reporters. "I think it's a clear sign that the governor's efforts to fund education are working."

In Hunterdon County, voters approved 14 of 29 school budgets, including the spending plan in the North Hunterdon-Voorhees Regional High School District. That district proposed tax increases in seven of its 12 sending municipalities.

With proposed tax increases in each of its five municipalities, Delaware Valley Regional School District's budget was defeated by 329 votes.

"We'll be projecting areas that we could cut and what those impacts would be," said Superintendent Elizabeth Nastus, adding the district met periodically with municipal officials before the election.

Hackettstown defeat rare

For the first time in 10 years, Hackettstown school officials face the process of dealing with a defeated budget.

Superintendent Robert Gratz said he did not view Tuesday's rejection as any statement about the school district. The Hackettstown budget called for an average tax increase of $117; it was voted down by eight votes.

"It's a good community. It's a supportive community," Gratz said. "I think it's more a statement regarding the economy and taxing."

Tuesday's election results also were a bit of a close call for the Warren Hills Regional School District. The district's spending plan was approved by 11 votes after being rejected in Mansfield and Franklin townships, and passed in Washington Township and Washington Borough.

Superintendent Peter Merluzzi attributed the narrow victory to the recession and that Franklin voters faced a higher tax increase than their neighbors, due to an increase in students from the township.

In general, the district's expenditures for 2009-10 mostly mirror those of this school year, Merluzzi said.

"It is what it is. Every year, we go through this," Merluzzi said. "I'm just pleased that, overall, the community saw fit to support the budget."