TAXED ENOUGH ALREADY

Q&A

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Q&A

If the referendum is voted down, what is the next step? Does the School Board develop a new referendum with a revised request?

Yes, they can and should redo the question and resubmit to the voter. Keep in mind that redoing the question will have a negligible impact on the needed school maintenance since the District waits to do major work until summer to avoid disrupting students’ school year. Therefore, they can take their time to get the question right and a February or March referendum can net the same result.

If the referendum fails, will we likely pass some deadline where we would no longer qualify for the State matching funds?

Unlikely. While there is always a possibility that the government cancels a program, it’s unlikely. To the best of our knowledge, there is no “end date” for missing out on the State matching funds. Furthermore, the State’s matching reimbursement occurs AFTER expenses have been incurred. Finally, since the current referendum would have been reviewed by the State for eligibility already, it would seem to be relatively straightforward for them to address a new de-scoped referendum covering a smaller number of equivalent projects.

Can the School Board just go ahead and issue the bond without voter approval?
No, the BOE cannot issue bonds to spend additional monies without voter approval. They can reissue existing bonds to take advantage of better terms. In fact, in economic times such as these, by delaying their bond request, they have an opportunity to get lower interest rate bonds. So waiting is better.
How much can the school district cut from the (referendum) question without losing any State $$?

NJDOE submission indicates that over $27 Million in projects do NOT qualify for state rebates. So the HVRSD can ask for $60 Million and still receive $24 Million in State aid in a revised referendum question.

CLICK HERE for HVRSD Business Administrator Robert Colavita’s detailed breakdown of referendum costs.

Is the referendum being used for general maintenance such as fixing roofs and boilers?

Partially. The district has not been transparent about the dollar amount applied toward roofs and HVAC. What we know as fact is that state provides rebates for that type of maintenance and the HVRSD NJDOE submission indicates that over $27,000,000 in projects do NOT qualify for state rebates eligible for restoration and repair projects.

Are our schools at capacity or not?
It depends how and where you are measuring. According to district presentations, there has been a 15% decline in total enrollment in the last 15 years from a max of over 4,000 students to its current level of about 3,400 students. The 2022 district demographer report indicates that after ALL new Valley housing is fully occupied in 2039, the district enrollment is still forecasted to be significantly below 4,000.
Where will the new housing developments’ students be enrolled?
According to Superintendent Treece, any new students enrolled from new Valley developments would not be evenly distributed throughout the district. The greatest increase would occur at Bear Tavern Elementary school. Without redistricting, there is no impact to Hopewell Elementary or Tollgate Grammar.
Does the district need to expand capacity due to forecasted growth?

Probably not, but in any case, NO GROWTH in student population is forecasted for Tollgate Grammar School, yet 10% ($8.7 million) of the $87m referendum total is shown for a Tollgate Grammar School addition. Those costs exclude an additional $3.9 million shown for Tollgate rehab projects.