BY SUE MORGAN
Staff Writer

WEST LONG BRANCH - The difference between what property owners here would have paid in annual school district taxes during the 2006-07 academic year and what they will now pay, thanks to the Borough Council, amounts to just over $13.

That is the end result of the council's decision to trim the rejected Board of Education budget by $75,000, according to District Business Administrator Dayton Faunce.

The reduction, to be funded by cuts in expenses for supplies, technology upgrades, building maintenance and less money for the incoming district superintendent, was unanimously approved by the council in the presence of officials of the West Long Branch Board of Education during its May 17 meeting.

"It's not a large impact," said Faunce of the council's cut to the K-8 district's failed $10.5 million budget.

The spending plan, which had called for a total tax levy of $8.3 million, was defeated by 12 votes on April 18 when 323 votes were cast in favor of it and 335 votes against it.

With the council's reduction, the amount to be raised by taxation for the district's two public schools is now $8,201,959, according to a copy of the approved resolution.

Under the revisions, annual school property taxes on a property assessed at the borough average of $473,200, originally set to increase by $211.14, will now go up by $197.89, a difference of $13.25 per year or $1.01 monthly, Faunce explained.

The cut amounts to less than a penny off the school tax rate of about 66 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.

As a result, the average yearly school district taxes on that same home will be $3,119.81 rather than the $3,133.06 annual school district taxes under the rejected budget.

That $1.01 per month would have helped to purchase new technologies and repair the 16-year-old cafeteria floor at Betty McElmon Elementary School, he noted.

"In preparing this budget, we were very sensitive to the taxpayer," Faunce said.

As a result of the cuts, about $11,785 in administrative salaries will be subtracted from the new spending plan, a copy of the approved council resolution shows.

With the imminent retirement of Superintendent of Schools Joan Kelly and the hiring of Dr. Elizabeth Keshish, who takes over as superintendent on July 1, the district found an additional $5,414.

Kelly, who will leave upon expiration of her contract on June 30, is now paid $127,414 yearly, Faunce said.

Keshish, who is presently an assistant superintendent in the Red Bank Public School District, will earn a starting salary of $122,000, he added.

The school board hired Keshish on April 27, nine days after the budget originally constructed by the board, was turned down at the polls.

The district will also do without $31,216 in general supplies, specifically in the areas of technology and computer equipment for its schools, he continued.

The purchase and installation of new tile for the cafeteria floor inside the McElmon School, expected to cost $25,000, will not be done this academic year as a result of the council's trimming, Faunce said.

Although the district does have an existing staff e-mail service within its buildings, officials have sacrificed a proposed upgrade in the service, pegged at $6,999, due to the $75,000 reduction, Faunce said.

Keshish has worked in the Red Bank district since 2002 when she came on board as the director of curriculum and instruction.

In 2004, she was named to her present position. She also spent 17 years teaching English at North Plainfield High School prior to coming to Red Bank.

Aside from the budget defeat, three incumbent school board members who ran uncontested for new three-year terms were returned to their seats during last month's election.

Antoinette L. Chase of Cedar Avenue, Mary E. Orendorff-Gassman of South Belle Drive, and Kellie T. Campbell of Parker Road have all begun new terms on the board.

The board's next meeting is scheduled for this coming Tuesday inside the media center at Frank Antonides School, Locust Avenue and Parker Roads, at 8 p.m.