Brick School Board Adopts Budget With ‘Break Even’ Tax Hike

Brick Memorial High School, July 2023. (Photo: Shorebeat)

Brick Township taxpayers will, on average, see their school tax bills rise by more than $100 this year, however board members said at a hearing Tuesday night that they were stuck between two options – reject the tax increase and lay off more teachers, which would increase class sizes to gargantuan levels, or adopt a maximalist tax increase and send residents’ bills soaring several hundred dollars.

The answer, board members decided, was in the middle, with a 3.14 percent expenditure increase and a 5.14 percent tax levy increase.

“The number we came up with, a 3.14 percent total increase, is slightly over the break-even point,” said board member Mike Mesmer, who chairs the board’s finance committee. “We’re protecting all teaching positions, we’re ensuring that class sizes will not increase – there is potential for them to go down – and also … we’re planning to get into litigation with the state over the funds we feel we deserve.”

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The district’s 2025-26 budget was adopted as proposed in a revised form, at $171,207,418. It will be supported by a tax levy of 134,767,772, which added $4,161,475 to the district’s preliminary budget published last month. The additional $4 million in taxation was allowed by an act of the state legislature which permits school districts that have been de-funded by Trenton to raise taxes locally above the normal 2 percent cap on expenditures and tax increases. Brick’s school district has gone through a seven year-long de-funding process under an agreement signed by Gov. Phil Murphy and former Senate President Steven Sweeney that based state funding on a proprietary formula that determined Brick’s school taxes were too low, and the district was not being adequately funded. The controversial law is known colloquially as “S-2” after its Senate designation.

Brick’s average school property tax increase of $126 for the average resident is small compared to those being adopted and contemplated in other districts. Toms River Regional taxpayers may face up to a 12 percent increase, or $495 per year, if the state orders the adoption of its rejected budget. Lacey Township will raise taxes a staggering $868 per year in order to avoid class sizes that could have spiraled into the 50s and the total elimination of athletics and clubs. Middletown, meanwhile, is being forced to shut down multiple schools entirely.

The state measure that allows local boards to raise taxes above the cap is known as the Tax Levy Incentive Aid program, which provided Brick a one-time grant of $208,074 in exchange for the increase. The board could legally have increased property taxes 9.9 percent this year, which was the path favored by board member Victoria Pakala.

“The state keeps reminding us that we’re $28 million under adequacy,” she said. “Where is that money supposed to come from and how do we as a board help our students get the thorough and efficient education they deserve? To me, under adequacy translates to ‘me and you providing our students with what the state won’t.’ This is our opportunity.”

Pakala said a higher tax increase would raise morale among district employees since they would feel better supported in their jobs.

“I recommended to raise the tax levy higher, because only Brick Township can provide this money,” she said, listing items that have seen prices rise in recent years. “I really hoped the town would do better, and I really hoped the other board members would support a higher rate for our students.”

Mesmer countered that raising taxes to the maximum allowed by law every year would not be sustainable.

“We factored everything in to this decision,” he said. “We felt it was fair to protect the teachers and the students without killing the taxpayers, because people are struggling. We can’t just raise taxes a million percent and pretend everything is fine.”

Board member Frances DiBenedictis said politicians have failed districts such as Brick.

“They’re screwing us over,” she said. “It doesn’t matter who they are, we’re screwed, and it’s not fair. We shouldn’t be in this predicament time after time after time.”

Mesmer added that the district will likely pursue litigation against the state, based on its own formula, and could equate to as much as $3 million in funding that is owed for this school year alone.