School budget now in hands of council
By ROBERT LINNEHAN
The Cherry Hill Sun
5/2/2010

After township residents had their say on the 2010 Cherry Hill School District budget, the document now falls into the hands of the Cherry Hill Council. The Council is charged with reviewing the document and making any cuts in funding to the failed budget – if any – that it sees fit.

The $166.76 million budget was defeated by almost 500 votes last week, sending the budget to Council after school district representatives described the budget season as one of the most difficult and challenging the district had ever seen.

If approved, the budget would have raised more than $149 million in taxes, a 4 percent increase in the tax levy.

“The voters spoke out against the Cherry Hill School District’s budget,” said Council President David Fleisher in reaction to the election results. “Now the district will present its budget to Town Council and the governing body will be educated on the complexities of this document. After that education is complete, we will enter into a thoughtful, constructive process that will yield the best possible outcome for our community. With that said, there is no question in my mind that the health of our school system is vital to our community.”

According to law, when reviewing the budget Council can decide to cut a specific dollar amount from the document, but can only make suggestions as to where to cut the budget.

If the Council sees fit, the governing body does not have to cut anything from the failed budget.

The Council must also hold a public hearing on the budget and its suggested monetary cuts before it can approve the defeated document. The date for the public hearing has not yet been set, according to township representatives.

The majority of school districts are in the same bed as Cherry Hill, as almost 60 percent of school budgets were defeated across the state, according to reports from the New Jersey Department of Education.

The department also reported that districts that had teachers accept wage freezes fared much better in their budgets, with voters approving 13 of the 19 budgets that included freezes.

Gov. Christie urged districts throughout the state and teacher unions to accept pay freezes to help combat the difficult budget season.

“Moving forward, I believe this election has again shined a bright light on one thing we can all agree on – the broken tax system and budgeting process,” Fleisher said. “As a community and a state, we can no longer afford to rely almost solely on property taxes because they do not measure an individual’s ability to pay the bill. This state needs new options, and I believe there should be other sustainable ways to fund public services.”

Christie was criticized heavily during several public hearings on the Cherry Hill budget by township residents.

The governor decreased the district’s state aid by more than $8 million near the end of the budgetary season.

Christie cut aid to the majority of districts throughout New Jersey.

The Cherry Hill School District has the right to appeal the township’s monetary cut to the state education commissioner if the district feels it is out of line.