Hackettstown, Pohatcong Township, Belvidere school districts grappling with state aid cuts

By Express-Times staff
April 02, 2010

Hackettstown School District officials propose cutting 19 staff members and other changes in a budget that includes a nearly $1.4 million reduction in salary and benefits costs.

The budget cuts three administrators, seven teachers, six teaching assistants, two secretaries and a part-time custodian.

The Belvidere School District's 2010-11 budget would increase the district's tax rate by 3 cents per $100 of assessed property value. The owner of a home assessed at $150,000 would pay an extra $45 in annual school taxes.

Superintendent Dirk Swaneveld said of the budget, "It's not great, but it's not awful... "We did the best we could in a pretty difficult budget situation."

The budget accounts for a projected $606,232 drop in state aid.

The Pohatcong Township School Board on Wednesday approved a $6.63 million budget for 2010-11 that includes a tax rate increase of less than 1 percent.

The increase comes as the district slashed its operating budget by about $1 million, but managed to avoid personnel reductions after learning of state aid cuts