BERKELEY – An additional police officer is included in the budget for next year’s Central Regional School District.
It is part of other improvements which include a new fire alarm system at the high school, a new public address system at the middle school, and a new grounds/maintenance building. There will also be new windows at the high school but 95% of the cost for those will be covered by federal COVID funds.
All existing programs will be maintained in next year’s budget, Business Administrator Kevin O’Shea said. The district faced the same pressures from inflation, health insurance costs, busing and more that other districts are dealing with.
The total budget is increasing by $5,601,186 from this year’s $45,409,327 to next year’s $51,010,513.
The amount of this to be raised by taxes, as opposed to grants and other funding, increased by $1,749,728 from this year’s $36,550,272 to next year’s $38,300,000
The district has paid off its debt so it doesn’t owe money.
Central Regional has kids from five different towns and the taxes are broken down differently for each one:
- Berkeley: The increase will be about $3.80 per month based on the average assessment of $207,534. The tax rate will go up 2.2 cents.
- Island Heights: This town will see a decrease of about $6.22 per month based on the average assessment of $414,740. The tax rate will go down 1.8 cents.
- Ocean Gate: The increase will be about $11.85 per month based on the average assessment of $209,167. The tax rate will go up 6.8 cents.
- Seaside Heights: The increase will be about $8.80 per month based on the average assessment of $251,493. The tax rate will go up 4.2 cents.
- Seaside Park: This town will see a decrease of about $8.10 per month based on the average assessment of $571,828. The tax rate will go down 1.7 cents.
The assessments are set by your town’s assessor, and is not what you bought your home for. It’s based on the property market.
The budget was passed by the Board of Education. Ocean Gate representative John Serpica voted against the budget because of how much of an increase his town will see.
