Patch- TOMS RIVER, NJ — Voters in the four towns making up the Toms River Regional School District will be heading to the polls Tuesday to cast their ballots on the proposal to spend $147 million on repairs and upgrades throughout the district.
(Tax impact: For A Home assesed at $350,000 the yearly tax Increase will be $180. A home assessed at $500,000 will see a increase of $260. Check the district tax calculator here. )
POLLS: Voting is from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the four towns — Beachwood, Pine Beach, South Toms River and Toms River. You can call the Board of Elections at 732-929-2167 to check on your polling place.
WHAT: The Toms River Regional Schools are proposing to bond for $147 million in repairs and upgrades in the district's schools, maintenance building, the John J.
Bennett Athletic Center bubble, the Central Registration Complex and its vehicle maintenance compound.
Of that amount, the state Department of Education will pay more than $47 million, covering a percentage of the projects at each of the schools. (The state says it's 40 percent, but Business Administrator William Doering has said it works out to about 32 percent.)
THE TAX IMPACT: In Toms River, the additional debt service would cost taxpayers $11.80 per month, or $141.65 per year, for a home assessed at the township average of $272,400. In Pine Beach, on an average assessment of $267,900, it would cost $11.06 or $132.72, and in South Toms River, the cost would be $6.04 per month, or $72.52 per year, on a home assessed at $165,200. For Beachwood taxpayers, it would cost $8.06 per month or $96.75 per year on the $203,600 average assessment.
HOW CAN THE MONEY BE SPENT? By law, funds allocated for specific projects must be spent on those projects. The district cannot take money designated for roof work and buy computers, for instance.
WHAT IF THE PROPOSAL IS REJECTED? The repairs that are needed won't go away. They will get more expensive. Issues of leaking roofs will lead to more serious damage to the buildings, which range from 15 years old (Toms River Intermdiate South) to nearly 70 years old (Toms River High School South). The costs to repair those issues will increase, and the district will lose the state's share of the funding — meaning Toms River district taxpayers will bear the entire burden.
Welcome to NJ. In most states, sales tax or a portion of it, goes to local government. In NJ, the State confiscates all tax revenue and leaves only property tax to cover local expenses (police, fire, school etc.)
ReplyDeleteWhen Toms River does a new appraisal on the properties there, the Frum residents are in for a rude awakening, as the value of the properties in newly frum neighborhoods are 30% or more above what they are currently assessed at, whereas the value in other neighborhoods have remained stagnant
Exactly. Also, since Toms River lost millions in property tax revenue because of Superstorm Sandy, most North TR properties will be assessed for as much as possible with every single re-assessment. It is the only way they will be able to recoup the millions they have lost over the years since the storm.
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