Hillsborough board approves higher local levy in 5–4 vote as residents urge alternatives

A divided Hillsborough Township Board of Education voted 5–4 on July 28 to raise the district’s local tax levy, a move board leaders said was necessary to prevent deep staffing cuts and to stabilize finances after repeated reductions in state aid.

Proponents, including the board president and the superintendent, said the increase — described at the meeting in different places as roughly $20 million in this year’s action and as part of a two‑year local levy rise the board characterized as about $26.6 million overall — gives the district multi‑year breathing room. The superintendent said the district also learned it had been awarded about $1.6 million by the state for capital items that had not been built into the tax levy, and he described the $1.6 million as separate from the local levy increase.

The vote followed a long round of public comment during which many residents called the increase excessive and urged alternative solutions. "This increase of $22 million is totally unreasonable and unsustainable," said Bala Mahadevan of Lawrence Court. Several speakers said their property tax…