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Politics & Government

Resident Confronts Board of Education About Rising Taxes

Board, administration officials counter accusations delivered by former Board of Education member.

In an open letter to the media, the Board of Education, Barnegat Township Committee and New Jersey Department of Education, resident Angelo Mureo faulted the Barnegat school district Tuesday for allegedly overspending and fumbling the tax assessment process, resulting in an inflated tax bill.

"Thought I've heard and seen everything when it came to skyrocketing property taxes in Barnegat," Mureo's letter began. "We saw our own taxes increase by 60 percent in just five years, caused by a botched reassessment at the height of the real estate bubble in 2007, an illegal selective partial assessment in 2011 and a Barnegat school board that can't put the lid on overspending."

"Fact is last year alone, the Board of Ed raised taxes on our three-bedroom, two-bath home by $765.00, representing a 9 percent increase from the previous year," Mureo's letter stated.

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"I challenge any one or any of the taxing authorities that affect my property taxes, which include the state, the county, the municipal tax assessor and the school board,” Mureo told Patch in an interview.

"They increased my taxes last year, and now they're returning a meager pittance of $52?" Mureo said, referring to this year's school budget of , which saw a general fund increase of $2,670,771 compared to last year’s budget, but a 2-cent reduction in the tax rate per $100 of assessed value, which translated into a $467,533 net decrease in the levy or $52 per year on an average home in Barnegat, assessed at $260,000.

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Board of Education officials responded by presenting figures and examples, both at the public meeting on Tuesday, and in separate interviews, which they said showed Mureo's allegations to be unfounded.

"We've lost $4 million in state aid over the last three years, and we've lowered the overall percentage of taxes by 8 percent," said Barnegat Board of Education member Robert Houser.

"We know we are not going to make everybody happy all the time," Barnegat Schools Superintendent Karen Wood said in an interview. "But we know we have a great budget going into the 2012-13 school year; we are very, very proud of it."

Concerns, Allegations

Mureo, 61, who is a former Board of Education member, accused the school district of illegally sitting on a surplus, instead of passing it along to taxpayers, for spending taxpayers' money on an ad campaign "disguised as a news piece" and for stifling his criticism when he tried to confront them.

"When I attempted to bring this to the attention of the Barnegat Board of Ed at their last meeting on April 24, 2012, I found myself rudely interrupted several times by elected board members Lisa Becker and Lauren Sarno and scolded for breaching their self-imposed five-minute limit stifling public participation and denying me the opportunity to complete my presentation," Mureo's letter said.

"To add insult to injury, I was the only member from the public who asked to be heard."

Mureo read his accusations out loud in an open letter addressed to the board at their regular meeting Tuesday night. He also read the letter to the township committee of Barnegat, during their last meeting on May 7.

He said he was appalled that the Board of Ed ad he spotted in a newspaper failed to disclose "the actual raw numbers of the current budget," that "Barnegat taxpayers paid for the ad," the details regarding "how much of the budget is actually dedicated to the classroom vs. administrative and employee salaries, benefits and perks" and the location of a "$3 million excess surplus."

School Officials' Response

After Mureo read his statement, he left the Barnegat High School auditorium, where the meeting was held last night, and did not hear the reply from members of the board.

"We cut the transportation budget by over $500,000 by shifting [transportation routes] and having more students walk to school," Houser said, reading from his own notes. "Through the energy conservation program, we saved more than $2 million. We eliminated the assistant superintendent position, which at the time paid more in salary than the current superintendent position."

Superintendent Karen Wood and Business Administrator Dean Allison addressed Mureo's complaints in a telephone interview with Patch, saying the school district's savings percentages are actually below the minimum required by the state.

"Of the surplus that we generated, we're giving back $1.4 million, which is roughly 3 percent, so that we can provide tax relief in 2012-13," said Allison. "The law would not allow us to keep any more money than what's there, and we're actually under what the law allows."

"He’s saying [our savings are] more than recommended by the Department of Education," Allison added. "As a matter of fact using the D.O.E. regulations, we could have stored away much more than we did with our capital reserve.”

The percentage of savings kept in capital reserve, the maintenance fund and the emergency fund are all less than the state requirements, Allison said.

In responding to other points in Mureo's letter, Wood explained the ad as a downsizing measure from the newsletters the township used to mail out to all residents.

"As a former board member, Mr. Mureo should know that boards of education for years have been required to advertise their budgets to the public," Wood said.

Like many other districts, Barnegat Schools used to send out a newsletter, which explained the budget to the public and was paid for by the taxpayers, Wood said. This year the board decided to do the same thing via an ad instead, she said.

"To me, that's a far more efficient way to get the word out to the public and it killed less trees," Wood said. "It was an informational item written by me [about the budget]."

Wood disclosed that as part of the informational campaign the district spent the following on advertising:

  • Spring, 2009 – 09-10 Budget - $1023.40 (Asbury Park Press/Sandpaper)
  • Spring, 2010 – 10-12 Budget - $697.38 (Asbury Park Press)
  • Spring, 2011 – 11-12 Budget - $1832.50 (Asbury Park Press/Sandpaper)
  • Spring, 2012 - 12-13 Budget - $1498.00 (Asbury Park Press-Leader)

As for Mureo's claims that he was treated unfairly by the board, Wood said the five-minute limit for public comment is meant to "streamline the public comment," so the speakers stay on topic.

"The board gave him the same time we do to everybody else, actually we gave him more time," Wood said. "The board was very appropriate. They listened, they asked questions. Quite honestly, Mr. Mureo was the one being very rude to the board, in my opinion."

There were several other residents in attendance at that meeting, Wood added, and board members had no way of knowing which ones might wish to speak.

Lastly, Wood pointed out that the budget for school year 2012-13 was explained at a public meeting in March, where details about the school district's expenses and answers to common questions about the budget distribution were presented to the public, and the impact on the tax levy was discussed.

"Mr. Mureo wasn't at that meeting," Wood said. "He could have given us a call. Anybody who has ever called us, and residents do occasionally, we have always followed up."

Tax Assessment Process

Though Mureo singled out the Board of Education as the target of his letter, he did also say he blamed Barnegat Township's Tax Assessor's Office, as well as the state and the county for his rising tax bill.

According to Township Administrator David Breeden, Barnegat officials are just as frustrated as the residents with the "inadequate assessment system in New Jersey," which can only be addressed through a change in state law.

"The township is working closely with the New Jersey State League of Municipalities with instituting meaningful changes to the outdated and flawed system which currently regulates property assessments," Breeden said.   

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