Thursday, March 28, 2013
West Orange homeowners to see taxes go up $177.45 for an average assessed home at $339K.
The West Orange Board of Education unanimously approved the $141,460,056 2013-14 school budget Wednesday night that will include a 2.48-percent tax increase. For an average assessed home at $339,000, taxes will rise approximately $177.45 with the budget's $120,538,165 tax levy. Business Administrator Mark Kenney explained the New Jersey law limiting school districts to a 2-percent tax increase refers to the percentage increase in tax levy year-to-year, which is 1.29 percent in the budget. The approved budget is only a .4 percent, or $628,479, increase over last year’s budget, which came in at $140,831,577. Interim Superintendent James O'Neill attributed the budget increase to unfunded mandates, such as new teacher and principal …
Monday, March 25, 2013
[POLL] The preliminary budget was approved earlier this month but after cutting the budget in the last few weeks the district expects a 1.29 tax increase or less. What do you think of the budget? Tell us in the comments and vote in our poll.
On March 4, the West Orange Board of Education unanimously passed a $132,977,874 tentative budget for the 2013-2014 school year, which came in $3.2 million more than last year's. In the last few weeks, the board has asked Interim Superintendent James O'Neill to cut costs twice, according to a spokesperson for the district. On Friday, the school district announced the expected school tax increase will be 1.29 percent or less. The proposed 1.29 percent tax increase, for an average assessed home at $339,000, would raise taxes approximately $186. The tax increase is mainly due to capital improvements across the district as well as required training and new equipment, and increases in insurance and maintenance costs. So what do you think? Do …
The West Orange school district announced Friday the expected school tax increase will be 1.29 percent or less, a spokesperson for the district said. The board said it is still working to cut the budget where it can before the final budget is presented next week.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Township council will meet March 6 and March 9 to review the 2013 municipal budget.
The West Orange Township Council has announced two dates they will meet to review the 2013 municpal budget submitted by Mayor Robert Parisi, according to township officials. The meetings will take place in council chamber at West Orange Town Hall, 66 Main St., on: It is not known if any formal action will be taken.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Police union president says town needs to hire more men; mayor maintains overtime is unpredictable.
Taxpayer money earmarked for police and fire department overtime this year is the highest it has been in the past four years. There is about $1.1 million budgeted for overtime costs for the police department in the 2012 budget. The fire department is also budgeted for $750,000 in overtime costs. Compared to 2009, this marks an increase of 85 percent in budgeted police overtime, and a jump of 150 percent for budgeted fire department overtime, according to township documents. Christopher Jacksic, president of the West Orange police union, PBA Local 25, said he did not doubt that the police department is on pace to exceed $1 million in overtime this year. Jacksic said he correlated the rise in overtime costs for the department to the …
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
West Orange's $70.4 million budget passed 4-1, with Councilman Joe Krakoviak the lone dissenting voice.
Municipal taxes will not increase for a third year in a row in West Orange. The township council passed a $70.4 million municipal budget on Tuesday with a zero percent tax increase. The final vote came a week after the council decided to cut an originally proposed tax increase and more than $200,000 in the budget. “This budget is a very lean budget,” said Councilman Jerry Guarino. “You can’t remove anymore from this budget.” A homeowner with an average single-family house valued at about $339,000 can expect to pay approximately $2,900 in municipal taxes. This budget is $1.8 million less than last year’s budget, and about $2.7 million under the state mandated cap. There will be no layoffs this year. However, the township will shed 26 …
Sunday, July 22, 2012
School district shaken up as Board of Education suspends superintendent.
The biggest story in West Orange this week was the Board of Education’s decision to place Superintendent Anthony Cavanna on paid leave beginning Wednesday. And for those of you who are keeping an eye on this year’s budget, the council decided to postpone its vote on the administration’s proposed budget at the council meeting on Tuesday. The council preferred to hold a special workshop at the end of the month to discuss the expected tax increase, among other things. In other news, local students traveled to Montclair State University to learn the basics of reporting in a week-long program called Write on Sports. The following is a rundown of the top stories this week in town.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
West Orange also takes another step in preserving its historic homes.
Those wondering what their tax increase will be next year will have to wait until the end of the month to find out. The council originally intended to vote on the administration’s $71.3 million budget with its tax increase of 1.8 percent on Tuesday night. However, the vote had been removed from the agenda earlier that day and a special work session scheduled on July 31 to discuss the budget. The time and place of the work session has yet to be announced. “We are seeing if we can move that [tax] number down a little bit,” said Council President Victor Cirilo. “We want to see if there is anything that can still be reconsidered to move closer to closing that [budget] gap. That’s the big picture.” The proposed budget includes a tax rate…
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Council also nixed a parking ordinance for the area around Luna Stage
In a busy meeting, the West Orange council continued budget hearings Tuesday night and voted down an ordinance governing parking around the neighborhood of the Luna Stage. For the proposed budget, which is about $70.7 million with a 1.5 percent tax increase, there was a question from the audience concerning paying existing debt. Councilman Joe Krakoviak explained the town has actually been proactive about paying down debt. The 2012-2013 proposed budget listed debt service to be $5.7 million. "We are pretty aggressive," Krakoviak said. Hearings continue for the budget at the next council meeting scheduled for May 15. The budget was introduced back in March. In a previous Patch report, township officials said the projected impact of the …
Gary Englert
10:23 am on Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Paul P: Would you care to identify "the (amazing) amount of waste" in the school system? The simply fact remains that the West Orange School System serves a racially, ehtnically and culturally diverse population, whose socio-economic status is not reflected by the community at large, in addition to containing a high percentage of special needs students...and it does it well. Our best students are… more ›