Hopatcong School, Borough Budgets Ahead This Week
Tentative spending plans and according tax rates set for county approval during first week of March.
March, as the cliché goes, is supposed to come in like a lion. In Hopatcong this week, the roar of budgets will be heard loud and clear.
Both the Hopatcong Mayor and Council, as well as the Board of Education will meet this week, introducing budgets for their upcoming respective fiscal years.
On Wednesday, the Mayor and Council will introduce its budget at 7:30 p.m. at the Municipal Building, with a final reading scheduled for the borough’s April 3 meeting.
At the same meeting, the borough’s agenda notes an ordinance will be introduced to allow $80,000 to be used for the purchase and installation of police equipment.
For the Hopatcong Schools Board of Education, a special meeting will be held this week to finalize a proposed budget for the county superintendent to review. Date for this meeting is yet to be established.
Financial aid from the state was awarded Feb. 28, and Hopatcong Schools received a 2.2-percent increase in state aid over the 2012-13 year, but that amount is still not enough, according to Superintendent Charles Maranzano.
In 2012, Hopatcong lost more than $700,000 in state aid; more than a 6-percent drop from the year previous.
The district is still reeling from that cut, Maranzano said, and the increase in the new year’s budget is just a dent in making up the lost amount.
Check back for coverage this week on both topics.
jazzman
10:56 am on Sunday, March 3, 2013
i heard thats a pic of the eavesdrop building
Michele Guttenberger
5:36 pm on Sunday, March 3, 2013
Jazzman - what do you mean? Please enlighten us. I thought they had the wrong building by mistake and inserted a pizza take-out place. Could this odd building be some hidden message. Could this be the place where our real budgets our being kept - Safe from inquiring minds? :-)
The Watcher
3:12 pm on Sunday, March 3, 2013
Intro the budget Wed guess there won't be any discussion unless it's a pie chart
Observer
4:10 pm on Sunday, March 3, 2013
A pie chart with cake, it doesn't get better than that!
The Watcher
6:07 pm on Sunday, March 3, 2013
OMG maybe you will start a new trend..........Pie chart and PIE!!!
Michele Guttenberger
5:18 pm on Sunday, March 3, 2013
It is not that Hopatcong does get private funds for education. It just that the most wealthy benefactors of Hopatcong rather direct their support to other private schools and educational programs in Hopatcong. I think unbeknownst to most in Hopatcong a new school facility was erected in Hopatcong for a private, specialized school education program. The Hudson Farm Club converted an old dormitory into a state-of-the-art 2,500 sq ft retail spot. The building is now headquarters for the Griffin & Howe Shooting School and the Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) facility for local grade-through high-school youngsters to use the shooting sports to learn personal values. Too bad some of this private funding could not also include more traditional programs that our public schools are finding hard to support. The Hudson Farm Foundation in Hopatcong also supported Pope John High School $147,750 in charitable contributions too. Maybe Hopatcong Public schools could meet these budget gaps for school programs through private funding from wealthy benefactors that believe in supporting their local public school system.
Observer
5:45 pm on Sunday, March 3, 2013
@Michelle---I’ve often wondered what the Salvation Army does with all those tripod collection receptacles and hand bells for the other eleven months of the year. Do you think, for a small percentage of the take, they would be willing to allow Hopatcong School’s parents to re-purpose them for a “Save Our Schools” fund raiser campaign? Maybe we could shake some coins loose from the cushions! Every penny counts. I’m thinking placement near the Post Office, Liquor Factory, QuickChek, etc.
Michele Guttenberger
6:26 pm on Sunday, March 3, 2013
Observer - I would go for the big guns in school cash donations and ask our Lawyer John Ursin if he could get the Hudson Farm Foundation to sponsor a Griffin & Howe Clay shooting event or Wine & Gourmet diner events like they do for Pope John. Why can't their Foundation be a Friend of the Hopatcong Public School System. Why do we have to take a hike for the pennies when the real dough is with the clay birds? Maybe the Mayor and Hubby a big sponsor of the event too as they were to Project Self Sufficiency. We could call our charity Hopatcong Needs Sufficiency.
The Watcher
8:11 pm on Sunday, March 3, 2013
Michele we take a hike for pennies and hardly taxed gets the tax deduction!!!
tliberty
3:36 pm on Monday, March 4, 2013
Why does the police Dept. need $80,000.00 worth of equipment?????