Bayonne School District tentative budget includes $7M health-care adjustment as benefits rise $12M

The Bayonne School District discussed a tentative budget at an open workshop that staff said will include a $7,000,000 health-care adjustment to help cover a total health-care cost increase of $12,000,000.

The moderator, speaking for district staff, said the district received an additional $6,000,000 in state aid but still faces a gap that the health-care adjustment is intended to close. "So the total increase in health care is $12,000,000. We received $6,000,000 additional in state aid, and we are doing a $7,000,000 health care adjustment," the moderator said.

Why it matters: the health-care adjustment is one of the exceptions to the local 2% cap on levy increases; the moderator said the adjustment would be a request that reaches taxpayers under statutory allowances. A trustee pressed whether the district would be asking taxpayers for a 5% cap increase; the moderator confirmed the adjustment would be presented to taxpayers as a permitted levy increase and said that the adjustment is specifically targeted to health benefits rather than salary costs.

District staff outlined the larger fiscal picture: staff and benefits account for roughly 82% of the tentative budget; projected salaries total about $132,000,000 (about 60% of the budget) and the health-benefits portion represents another sizable share. The moderator characterized the district as still under its local fair-share target, noting a local fair-share figure of $133,000,000 and that the district receives approximately 61% of revenue from state aid.

Board members asked how the adjustment would affect services. One trustee asked whether money from the adjustment would be used to address operational shortfalls parents have raised — such as shortages of nurses, delays in evaluations and bus issues. The moderator said the tentative budget includes placeholders for vacancies and that the PCR (Position Control Report) lists specifics, but did not commit to reallocating the health-care adjustment to those operational areas.

The moderator estimated the district's year-over-year total dollar increase at about $8,000,000 and said a per-taxpayer impact would depend on county and municipal tax calculations: "That's a difficult question to specifically say," the moderator said, noting home values and other local variables influence per-household calculations.

On specific programs, the moderator said some summer programs are being reduced because COVID-era grants have expired; the two board-run summer programs the district will continue are ESY (Extended School Year) and credit recovery. The moderator also explained that community education operates as an enterprise fund whose revenues must be reinvested in that fund.

Procedural steps: the moderator said the tentative budget will be submitted to the county for a legality review and that the full budget presentation — the budget hearing — is scheduled for April 28. Board members also noted the governor's budget is a proposal subject to legislative changes later in the spring and summer.

The board adjourned the open workshop and prepared to reconvene for the regular meeting.