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Mountainside business administrator outlines budget calendar, warns of tight 2% levy cap
Summary
The district's business administrator presented the preliminary budget timeline (department submissions in January; preliminary adoption by March 18; public hearing April 29) and said reserves are at the statutory 2% cap while transportation and special-education costs remain pressure points.
Mountainside's business administrator presented the preliminary budget schedule and cautioned that the district faces tight constraints under a projected 2% tax-levy cap and rising transportation and special-education costs.
"We are working on the budget for next year, already," the business administrator said, outlining the calendar: departments will submit proposed budgets in early January; administrators will assemble a draft to present to the board in March; the board is expected to adopt a preliminary budget on March 18 for county submission by March 20, and a public hearing is tentatively scheduled for April 29.
The administrator said state aid typically follows the governor's budget address at the end of February and can arrive for districts only after that timeline, meaning the board often must prepare a preliminary budget without final state-aid figures. "We don't get state aid until it's usually the end of February," he said. He also said reserves currently sit at the statutory 2% cap and noted the district plans to avoid using reserves unless an unforeseen event occurs.
Board members asked whether Berkeley Heights' special-education costs and enrollment figures had been accounted for; the administrator said some numbers are still pending and that staff had reached out to the receiving district and state agencies for updated enrollment and special-education figures.
Why it matters: The calendar governs legally required deadlines for budget adoption and public hearing. With transportation and special-education costs above typical increases, a 2% tax-levy cap can create difficult trade-offs for staffing, programming and facilities.
Next steps: Department heads will submit figures in early January; the finance team expects to meet in late January to assemble preliminary numbers ahead of the March adoption and the April public hearing. The board will update the public if state-aid numbers change the calendar or assumptions.
