District will use proceeds from 34 Croffords sale to meet statutory reserves; preschool moved into general fund

Holmdel Township School District officials told the board they will use proceeds from a planned sale of 34 Croffords to restore required reserves and make targeted additions to capital and maintenance funds.

Mrs. Donnelly said the parcel is expected to sell to the township "for just over a million dollars," which the administration proposes to allocate $587,123 to the district's undesignated fund balance, bringing the district to the statutory level. The presentation also outlined proposed additions of roughly $243,000 to the capital reserve and $200,000 to the maintenance reserve.

The presenters said the county asked the district to move its preschool program from an enterprise fund into the regular operating budget. That change increased "other revenue" by $920,000 in the revised budget; officials said the preschool program is currently roughly break-even. The transcript records an enrollment estimate of 92 students for next year (95 currently enrolled at the time of the meeting), and officials noted preschool staff have medical benefits that affect budgeting.

On property-tax impacts, the administration said the district had presented a $70 million levy at the tentative budget and that the levy itself is unchanged. Officials explained the district may increase the levy by the permitted 2% (about $1.3 million) plus a state health-care adjustment (~$3.4 million), producing a 7.19% levy increase before offsets and a net 6.9% increase cited by the administration. The presenter said that results in a tax rate of 1.0391 for 2026—77 and translated the rate to $762.10 (or $63.51 per month) on an assessed value of $1,129,951.

Administration said these reserve and revenue moves were intended to correct prior shortfalls in undesignated fund balance and to avoid a county corrective-action plan that would have required quarterly budget reviews. The presenter argued using the one-time proceeds for reserves rather than recurring programs (for example, courtesy bussing) was fiscally prudent because the sale is a one-time capital infusion that would not sustainably fund an ongoing operating expense.

The board and administration said they would finalize subscription/courtesy bussing eligibility and post a survey soon; the administration expected to finalize the eligibility list by the end of the week and release a survey the following midweek.