March 23, 2006

NEWSRELEASE

For Immediate Release

For further information, please contact Richard Krieg, Mayor Mendham Township at (973) 543-6755 or Dennis Verbaro, Mayor Chester Borough at (908) 879-5361.

 Mendham Township and Chester Borough Urge Support for Study of West Morris Regional High School Funding Formula

             The Mayors and Governing Bodies of the Township of Mendham and Borough of Chester have mailed an open letter to the tax payers of the Mendhams and Chesters urging support for an honest, open and objective study of the relationship between property taxes in the four communities and the West Morris Regional High School educational system.

            The letter, which was mailed on March 22nd, stresses that New Jersey has the highest property tax on average in the entire nation and that over 50 percent of the tax monies collected on the local level go towards education.  The letter states that in the Mendhams and the Chesters this tax burden is further exacerbated by an inequity in the funding formula of the West Morris Regional High School District.  It would be the goal of the proposed study to identify a more equitable funding formula for the District without reducing the quality of education.

            The West Morris Regional High School District was formed in 1958 when six towns (the two Mendhams, two Chesters, Washington Township and Mount Olive) agreed to form a regional high school system.  The District was reduced to five towns when Mount Olive withdrew 30 years ago.  Under the terms of the original agreement, each town in the sending district paid the same amount per pupil regardless of which high school the students attended in the district.  The District presently includes two high schools, West Morris Central and West Morris Mendham.

            In 1975, the state legislature changed the school funding laws in response to a New Jersey Supreme Court decision.  The change required all regional school districts to abolish the agreed upon funding formula of a per pupil cost to a formula based on a town’s total assessed property value.  As a result of this change, the tax apportionment for the Mendhams and Chesters became inequitable.  Subsequent legislation was passed in the early 1990s permitting regional school districts three options for funding formulas; 1) property values 2) per pupil costs 3) any combination of 1 and 2, however, the West Morris Regional School District has chosen to retain the funding formula dictated by the 1975 legislation.

            As a consequence of the funding formula being based upon an equalized property value approach, the Mendhams and Chesters have been subsidizing a district’s fifth town, Washington Township since the change to this formula in the mid-seventies.   Presently, Washington Township sends over 50 percent of the students served by the district, but contributes only 35 percent (approximate) of the district’s 42 million dollar budget.

The table below illustrates the difference in tax impact between the present funding formula (property value) and a formula based upon per pupil costs:

a) Regional Proportion Based on Property Value:

 b) Regional Proportion if Based on Per Pupil Cost:

            The table shows that under a per pupil cost apportionment formula the average tax levy per student would $13,137.  The table further illustrates that the cost is dramatically lower than what the Chesters and Mendhams are paying per pupil under the current system based upon property values.  The letter to residents states that the governing bodies of Mendham Township and Chester Borough, based upon this information and other supporting documentation, strongly believe that under any restructuring option, the taxpayers in the Mendhams and Chesters would see reduced property taxes.

            In November 2004, the Governing Bodies of Mendham Township and Chester Borough placed a question on the ballot on the funding of the West Morris Regional School District.  The result of the referendum question was 78 percent of the Chester Borough voters and 86 percent of the Mendham Township voters responded in favor of their elected officials examining the topic in greater detail.  To date, Chester Township and Mendham Borough have chosen not to put the question to their voters.

            A combined meeting of all five towns took place in the summer of 2005 to discuss how to proceed on the issue.  Following the meeting Chester Borough and Mendham Township committed $10,000 each towards a $40,000 study of the district funding.  Washington Township voted not to fund the study.  Mendham Borough and Chester Township have not decided as of this date on whether they would contribute to the study.

            The open letter to the residents of the four towns invites all four community’s tax payers to voice their opinion on this topic.  It is the mutual hope of the governing bodies of Mendham Township and Chester Borough that by stimulating public opinion on the issue, a consensus can be reached among the leadership of all four towns on the need for a definitive study of the District’s funding formula.

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