Toms River Regional forced to accept 9.9% tax increase — and still falls $12M short

TOMS RIVER - Toms River Regional's $291 million school budget for 2024-2025 has been put in place by the Ocean County Superintendent of Schools, including a 9.9% increase in school taxes, but no additional state education aid.

In a letter sent to Board of Education President Kathy Eagan, Interim Executive County Superintendent Susan Naples said the board's failure to adopt a budget at its July 17 meeting gave her no choice but to enforce the provisions of a tentative spending plan — with the tax increase — supported by the board in June. At the time, board members agreed to adopt the increased tax rate, but only if the state provided the more than $12 million needed to balance the spending plan.

Toms River Regional Superintendent Mike Citta wrote a letter to the community explaining that even with the tax increase, Toms River Regional remains short of funds. The district is in the process of having several properties appraised for potential sale, he said.

You can read the letters at the bottom of this story.

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"For one thing, it means we are still more than $12 million short of a balanced budget for this school year, which is part of the reason our school board rejected this measure in the first place. Therefore, we are continuing the pursuit of liquidating assets, and are in the process of appraising certain community assets that do NOT directly impact schools or student programs. Some examples include the office building at 1144 Hooper Avenue and the transportation yard that houses the largest board-owned bus fleet in the state, among other ancillary properties," Citta said.

The higher tax increase for the 2024-2025 school year is permitted in legislation Gov. Phil Murphy signed in early May, which also included $1.2 million in extra money for Toms River Regional schools . The tax increase would raise an additional $12.8 million revenue.

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School Business Administrator William Doering said the 9.9% school tax increase would raise taxes by $325 annually on a Toms River house assessed at $446,100, the township's average. Toms River taxpayers are responsible for more than 90% of the taxes that support Toms River Regional schools.

In Beachwood, taxes would increase $270 a year for an average house, assessed at $207,700; the increase would be $307 a year in Pine Beach, on an average assessment of $412,000. and $134 a year in South Toms River, on a $194,500 average assessment, Doering said.

“Our ongoing dialogue with the NJDOE began, from our perspective, in earnest, hopeful and diplomatic,” said Board President Eagan. “But that good faith was clearly one-sided, and this latest action on the state’s part reveals their contempt for this community and their willingness to cast blame on anyone but themselves for the untenable and unjustifiable position they’ve placed us in.

“Local control for this commissioner must mean only blind adherence and enforcement by local boards of each and every ridiculous mandate promulgated by the Department of Education, not actual governance by locally elected officials” Eagan added.

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On July 17 the school board unanimously approved hiring The Busch Law Group of Metuchen to sue the state over "unconstitutional actions" the board said has left the schools $137 million short of aid.

“The state, over the last seven years, has reduced Toms River Regional Schools’ aid by over $137 million,” said Board Vice President Joseph Nardini. “Now, the state, recognizing the harm that the massive and inequitable reduction has caused, shifted the burden from the seemingly limitless state coffers to working residents’ wallets.”

The state also announced that it has put Jackson's school budget in place after that township's school board refused to adopt the spending plan with a 9.9% tax increase . The Jackson budget will include a $102 million tax levy. Jackson has also threatened to sue the state after facing "unthinkable cuts," including the planned closing of the Sylvia Rosenauer School.

"While the Department does not underestimate the difficulty of these decisions — budget development and adoption is a complex, multifaceted, even emotional process, given the importance of school programs to our students and communities — we also fully expect New Jersey’s world class district leaders to rise to that challenge," the Department of Education said in a prepared statement. "The difficulty of these decisions does not excuse any failure by district leaders or local boards of education to comply with one of their most critical statutory obligations to successfully oversee a public school system."

NJ letter to Toms River Regional by Dennis Carmody on Scribd

Citta letter to Toms River Regional by Dennis Carmody on Scribd

Jean Mikle covers Toms River, Seaside Heights and several other Ocean County towns. She's also passionate about the Shore's storied music scene. Contact her: @jeanmikle, jmikle@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Toms River Regional forced to accept 9.9% tax increase — and still falls $12M short