School Board Ends Fiscal Year With Million Dollar Surplus

Hoboken's school district seems to be in good financial shape and will likely be able to lower the tax levy in next year's budget, according to Business Administrator Robert Davis.

Additional—and unexpected—state aid and a larger number of retirements than anticipated has left the board with an unrestricted $1 million surplus.

The Hoboken Board of Education received $1,765,000 on top of the

Because of the surplus, the district is cancelling a sale-leaseback program on text books it previously proposed, Davis said, that would have put the district in debt for the coming years.

"We will not have to raise the budget to pay that loan back," Davis explained.

Another part of the money can go toward instruction and programs, Davis said. It's up to the school board to decide where that money goes and on what it's spent.

Davis said that there are several ways for the district to use the extra aid money.

Part of the money—about $457,000—will go toward next year's budget, to prevent the tax levy from going up. The $457,000 in question are part of the $1 million surplus. (At the end of the fiscal year on June 30, the district already $561,962 left).

About $347,000 of the extra money will be spent on renovations and improvements in the district's facilities, on top of capital improvements that are already budgeted for the coming years.

For example, the district is investing in a new camera system. A total of 88 new surveillance cameras will be bought and placed mostly in and around the high school, where there are few working cameras in the building. Some new cameras will also be placed in the elementary schools.