Ridgefield Park superintendent outlines $64.12 million preliminary budget, recommends 4.74% tax levy increase

Ridgefield Park Board of Education Superintendent Dr. Vespignani presented a $64,123,499 preliminary budget for the 2025–26 school year at the board’s March 19, 2025 meeting, and recommended a 4.74% increase in the local tax levy that uses part of the district’s banked levy capacity and an allowable health-care waiver.

The proposal, Dr. Vespignani said, balances revenue and fixed costs while avoiding cuts to staff or core programs. “We are being told to budget approximately a 22% increase, from the previous year. That 22% increase represents an approximate $1,600,000 increase,” Dr. Vespignani said, referring to projected school-employee health-benefit costs.

The nut of the proposal is the projected jump in employee benefits: the administration estimates roughly $1.6 million in additional health-benefit expense for 2025–26. The administration reported a modest increase in state aid (about $700,000) and a 2% statutory tax-levy baseline; those revenue items do not fully cover the benefit increase, the presentation said.

Why it matters: the district may use state-approved “allowable adjustments” — banked levy capacity and a…