NORTHIELD – When voters defeated the proposed school budget April 15, they set in motion a process that should end when City Council approves by resolution any changes made in the school district spending plan at the May 6 meeting, too late for this week’s issue.

District Superintendent Richard Stepura and Business Administrator and Board Secretary Linda Albright prepared documents that went to the mayor and members of the Northfield City Council finance committee to give them the most recent audit and get them up to speed on the budget process.

“We met on April 23 and had a really good discussion of the budget,” said Mayor Vince Mazzeo. “I wanted to cut more out of the budget but realized there was not much room to go. We shaved off a half cent; it amounts to $27,000. Now we are down to a 2.6 cent increase rather than a 3.1 cent increase” per $100 of assessed property value.

The spending plan of $11,019,863 was defeated by 38 votes, and it fell to the town fathers to follow the will of the voters to make a cut.

According to state standards, the school district already does an efficient job of educating its students, as the budget falls more than $500,000 below the state average of $11,617,897. The state rates the district “below adequacy” in terms of cost spent per student.

The governing body could have approved the defeated budget intact because of that designation. The mayor said the finance committee was pleased with how the process went and acknowledged that the district works hard to maintain a cost per pupil of $9,163, the lowest in Atlantic County. 

— Suzanne Marino