Pohatcong Township teachers take pay hit to help district cope with $32,500 worth of cuts from council

Faculty members at the Pohatcong Township School District have agreed to reduce their contracted pay raise for next year in order to help the district grapple with a $32,500 budget hit ordered by the township council.

Council's cuts, which came after 52 percent of the residents in the township voted down the tax proposal in April, would bring the less than one penny tax hike down to a flat rate for most residents.

Under the school district's proposal, an average township homeowner with a property assessed at $166,622 could expect to pay about $2 more in school taxes next year.

But instead of allowing council's reduction to affect programs or personnel, Pohatcong Education Association President Mark Wells said the union chose to reduce the 4.5 percent pay raise to 3 percent to absorb the entirety of the cut.

"We met, discussed the matter and decided it was the thing to do," Wells said in an e-mail. "We believed it saved programs and jobs."

Pohatcong Township Business Administrator Tim Mantz confirmed that the association's move spared $6.63 million spending plan from further cuts.

"The entire rest of the budget stayed intact," Mantz said.

A public hearing on the township municipal budget, which calls for an 8.4 percent tax increase, is slated for June 15.