Southern Regional Feels Long-Term Effects From Sandy

The Southern Regional Board of Education last night discussed the district's $56,475,439 budget for next year, but exactly how much of that will have to be raised from actual tax dollars remains to be seen, according to Business Administrator Steven Terhune.

"This year is unique because of Superstorm Sandy," Terhune told the Board and public at a budget meeting. "We don't know what each impact will be, because we don't know what the ratable base is going to be. An added wrinkle is that FEMA has loans that are available to schools and counties that have been severely impacted in their ratable base [by the storm]."

Terhune said the district is applying for those FEMA funds, and that Gov. Christie's office have given affected school districts till May 15 to have their submissions filed. The district would then get an answer on the funding a few weeks later. He said they are expecting guidance from Christie's office on the application within the next week.

While Terhune noted the board is "operating with unaswered questions" at this time, he said what is certain is that a number of funding sources have been cut, especially federal dollars.

"The sequester is coming up so that will likely impact what the district gets," Terhune said. "The Department of Education has warned us it could be as much as 15 to 25%." That is on top, he said, of other cuts that have been ongoing at the state level in recent years.

Terhune said that much of the areas where the budget had to be trimmed could be done so through increased shared services, shared purchasing and shared operational services.