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Hunterdon Central board hears tentative budget, public faults $29.1 million capital reserve as members spar over 3% levy request
Summary
Business administrator Heather Spitzer and Superintendent Jessica Candelosi Haid presented a tentative 2026'27 budget that would sustain programs and ask for a 3% tax-levy increase; residents and some board members pressed administration over a $29.1 million capital-reserve balance and recurring surpluses that they say could reduce the tax ask.
Heather Spitzer, the district's business administrator, and Superintendent Jessica Candelosi Haid laid out the Hunterdon Central Regional High School District's tentative 2026'27 budget at the board's March meeting, stressing program preservation amid declining state aid and rising health-benefit costs.
Spitzer said state aid for the district fell by about 0.15 percent (roughly $7,246) but that the tentative budget maintains academic and co-curricular programs while adding two new magnet programs and a 1+1 pathway with Raritan Valley Community College for the Biomedical Sciences Academy. "We can raise the tax levy to 5.73% without going out for vote," Spitzer said, adding that administration recommended a smaller approach: "I am making the recommendation to increase the tax levy by 1 additional percent over the cap or 3% total." (Presentation and fiscal detail were provided to the board as…
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