Schools may end courtesy busing

The school board may again consider curtailing courtesy busing in Parsippany as it tries to stay within state-imposed spending limits while confronting a 2006-07 budget replete with rising costs.

Through financial juggling, the board managed to take the volatile issue off the table last year, when it first considered cuts in the $5 million cost to bus 5,000 of the 7,000 students in Morris County's largest school district.

Of the 5,000, about half are transported from inside the two- mile limit the state set for elementary students and the 2 1/2-mile limit set for mandated busing of high school students.

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But to cope with rising expenditures, Business Administrator Marlene Wendolowski said the board might want to revisit the issue for the coming budget year, when it likely won't be able to use surplus funds to ease the bite on taxpayers.

To cover the current $107 million budget, the average Parsippany home, valued at $310,000, pays about $3,700 in school taxes.

Last year, the board diverted $3.1 million of its surplus to defray its expenses and hold down the tax rate after a state law, referred to as S1701, mandated the moves to minimize hikes in property taxes. But this year, higher energy costs are expected to absorb all but the minimum $2.5 million that a district of Parsippany's size should have on hand for contingencies, auditor Raymond Sarinell told the board last night.

With state aid expected to remain steady at $7 million, most of the increases the board faces will have to be borne locally, and the spending cap is expected to hold the board to a 4 percent increase, Wendolowski said.

But costs are going up more than 4 percent in several accounts. Salaries for the district's 1,224 employees are expected to rise about 5 percent to $8.6 million; health benefits are increasing 12 percent to $14.8 million; and transportation costs are expected to increase about 4 percent.

However, the biggest increase will be in the natural gas bill, which came to $950,000 last year.

Those charges soared in October because of a new billing method and, thanks to a 24 percent rate hike just granted to New Jersey Natural Gas, the district estimates it may pay another $750,000 for its 14 schools.

To cope, thermostats have already been rolled back to 70 degrees from 72 during the day and lower during off-hours.

The additional heating cost means the surplus the district had hoped to use to cushion the expected tax increase instead will have to be used to cover the utility bill, Wendolowski said.

"This is the perfect storm for the disaster we had been projecting," Superintendent Gene Vasile said, referring to educators' opposition to S1701.

While the board has much to do before turning in a tentative budget to the county in February, vice president Alan Gordon said he considered the more than $3 million in proposed capital spending sacrosanct.

About $2 million is earmarked for weather-proofing projects. Among those are $1 million for new windows at Central Middle School and Knollwood, Lake Parsippany, Mount Tabor, Rockaway Meadow and Eastlake elementary schools.

Other projects include new boilers at Mount Tabor and repointing bricks and masonry elsewhere.

Al Frank covers Parsippany and may be reached at afrank@starled ger.com or (973) 539-7910.