Princeton board adopts budget; debt service, bonds and tax impact discussed

The Princeton Board of Education adopted the district’s operating budget after a presentation that outlined rising debt service, a recent bond sale and a modest tax levy increase.

Board presenters said the district’s debt service is about 17% higher than its 2021 peak, reflecting construction and capacity work funded by a voter referendum passed Jan. 28, 2025. The board’s financial presenter said the district completed a bond sale on March 25 and closed the bonds on April 8; the sale interest rate was 4.02 percent, above a hoped-for 3.75 percent, and the presenter said the sale raised debt-service levy requirements by about $114,000 compared with the district’s tentative budget six weeks earlier.

Officials said the board’s general fund tax levy increase for the coming year is 2.91 percent and that the average homeowner would pay about $440 more annually because of the combined operating and debt-service levy. Presenters also noted that state aid fell for the district this year by approximately 3 percent; the presenter said the drop in state aid was largely offset by a stabilization in charter tuition costs.

The board discussed the district’s fund balance, referenced as having grown “significantly over the last six years” to about $14.5 million, and noted that some fund-balance funds were used to balance the current-year budget consistent with New Jersey’s conservative school budgeting rules.

The board took formal votes on several agenda items during the meeting. A motion to adopt the budget and related financial reports was moved by Board Member Ari Meisel and seconded by Mara Franceschi; the roll-call vote recorded an abstention from Daphne Bridal and recorded yes votes from Beth Baron, Debbie Braunfeld, Mara Franceschi, Eleanor Hubbard, Susan Kantor, Chris Santarpio, Ari Meisel and Catherine Lara. The board subsequently approved the consent agenda, which included the final budget and several program adoptions; that motion passed on a roll call with all members voting yes.

Board members said they do not expect to seek another referendum in the near term and described the recent capital work — roofing, HVAC and capacity projects — as largely completed, with remaining items to be funded from reserves or existing authorizations. Presenters also highlighted nonoperating benefit pressures, including healthcare costs in the district’s self-funded prescription plan, and clarified that newer classes of GLP drugs mentioned as a cost driver are benefits for employees and their families, not a student prescription program.

The board approved the budget and consent agenda as part of the evening’s business.