Senator Girgenti in the News
HERALD NEWS: State to Pay $392G for Tax Error
July 31, 2007
By HEATHER KAYS
HERALD NEWS
HALEDON — Residents in North Haledon, Haledon and Prospect Park can all sleep a little easier — at least for now.
The state has agreed to pay the $392,000 owed to North Haledon, which along with the other two boroughs, sends students to Manchester Regional High School, after the state Department of Education made a tax error in that amount.
“The state made the mistake,” said Andre Sayegh, chief of staff for Sen. John A. Girgenti, who spearheaded the effort to replace the missing money. “Now they are just atoning for it.”
But the three boroughs are still prepared to fight over how much money each should be contributing to the district.
The mayors of Haledon, Prospect Park and North Haledon met with two representatives from the governor’s office Friday and discussed how to repay North Haledon the money it overpaid in its contributions toward Manchester Regional for the 2006–07 school year. A date has not been set for the payment, but the commitment from the state was a relief to the boroughs.
“The dark clouds have been lifted off of both Prospect Park and Haledon,” said Prospect Park Mayor Mohamed Khairullah.
Girgenti, Assemblywoman Nellie Pou and Assemblyman Alfred E. Steele, who all attended the meeting, said they were thrilled with the results.
“We were able to express what all three of the mayors were facing and find a solution that was reasonable for all of them,” Pou said.
However, no one thinks this is the end of the Manchester Regional funding fiasco.
“The legislators told us this was not the end,” said North Haledon Mayor Randy George. “They are going to continue to work to find a more permanent solution.”
The heart of the problem is that the three boroughs cannot find a school tax funding formula they can all live with.
Each municipality currently is assessed contributions to the school according to a formula based on the property values of the community rather than the number of students it sends to the school.
Several years ago, North Haledon attempted to leave the district because officials objected to the funding formula, saying North Haledon was paying too much.
In 2004 the state Supreme Court denied North Haledon’s request to withdraw from the district and ordered that an equitable funding formula be developed by the state Department of Education.
All three municipalities appealed the new formula, provided by former Education Commissioner William Librera.
Librera’s formula was used in the 2005–06 school year, but the old formula was mistakenly used in 2006–07.
This error by the DOE resulted in North Haledon overpaying by $392,000, and it would have resulted in a $450,000 overpayment for the coming school year had the error not been caught.
The Librera formula has since been applied to the 2007–08 school budget; however, the DOE will announce a new funding formula in November, according to officials. Until then, the three mayors said, they will continue to push for more state aid for Haledon and Prospect Park.
Haledon Mayor Domenick Stampone said the idea of his borough having to pay more money is ludicrous. Prospect Park’s Khairullah said a financial catastrophe needs to be averted. North Haledon’s George said he doesn’t care where the money comes from, as long as North Haledon doesn’t pay more than its fair share.
Yet while the mayors agreed there were more problems to face, they remained hopeful.
“Before we were fighting on our own and it was an uphill battle,” Stampone said. “Now we have the legislators on our side.”