Process Takes Center Stage as Towns, District, Find Common Ground on Budget

Matthew Hersh

Given the challenge of working around the first failed school budget in 16 years, both Princeton governing bodies, as well as members of the Princeton Regional Board of Education, engaged in a three-hour session last Tuesday that produced a new budget, trimmed by $1.05 million.

The meeting also demonstrated how the approaching deadline led to a rushed handling of the situation, causing some involved to criticize the process that led up to producing a final budget.

With the Princeton Regional School Board agreeing to go along with the municipalities' recommendations for cuts to the $56.2 million tax levy that died when voters turned it down in an April referendum, the new budget, a $55.14 million levy announced the following day, will result in a one-cent decrease in the Township, approved by Township Committee 5-0, and a one-and-a-half cent decrease in the Borough, signed off by Borough Council 4-2. For detailed figures see the accompanying budget story.

The new budget was submitted to the Mercer County Schools superintendent Michael Klavon in time for the May 21 deadline.

But last Tuesday's vote, which came at a time when the towns were also building their municipal budgets, indicated that the process of recreating a schools budget, which only comes up for review when a budget fails, could be flawed, leaving some elected officials stating that there was not enough time to strike a balance between the school district's desire to keep cuts away from programming, and the public's charge to lower the tax levy.

Peter Martin, the certified public accountant jointly contracted by the Borough and Township last month, appeared unprepared to share publicly what he termed a "draft report" that outlined as much as $3.4 million in tax levy reductions. Mr. Martin said that because he considered the document a draft, that it could prove "misleading," adding that making it public would be "imprudent," and expressing a desire to distance himself from its release. Though the document was withheld from the public Tuesday, both the Borough and Township later acquiesced, and released it to reporters.

Mr. Martin's draft identified, as part of larger cuts that were not enacted, a possible $1.4 million cut in tuition for out-of-district students. Repeating his reservations about discussing his figures publicly, Mr. Martin said that the tuition item, along with other potential reductions, were for discussion purposes rather than outright recommendations.

Roger Martindell, the Borough Councilman who riled his colleagues last week when he spoke publicly of closed-session items leading up to last Tuesday's meeting, again expressed his contempt for the process and questioned the school board's willingness to hammer out a compromise with the governing bodies and Mr. Martin.

Mr. Martindell also called on Borough Council, Township Committee, and the school board to conduct tax-related community meetings throughout the year.

Township Deputy Mayor Bernie Miller called Mr. Martindell's assertions "way off the mark," because, he said, "meaningful discussion" took place in the negotiations between the municipal and school board representatives: "I believe we came out of the meeting with the results of true negotiation."

Township Committeman Chad Goerner expressed impatience with the closed-session process ("this has been frustrating for everyone"), but said he believed the governing bodies achieved their goal. "We did accept a majority of the recommendations from [Mr. Martin]," he said, adding that the numbers were not arrived at arbitrarily. "We can grow from this process and move forward," he said. Township Committeewoman Vicky Bergman agreed, calling for monthly meetings between the school board and the Borough and Township administrators. "That could help to make sure that we are better informed," she said.

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