The BRICK Times Vol. 22 - No. 51
MICROMEDIA PUBLICATIONS
JERSEYSHOREONLINE.COM
May 6, 2023
SpringsInto New
Garden Club
In This Week’s Edition
Season
BREAKING NEWS @
jerseyshoreonline.com
By Alyssa Riccardi BRICK – Members of the Brick Township Garden Club are using their “green thumb” to make the Township greener, as they prepare for a new season ahead. The Brick Garden Club was initiated in September 1999 by Robert Anstett of the Brick Township Recreation Department in conjunction with resident Dianna Jankos. It was created with a purpose
Government Page 7
Community News Page 10-19
Dr. Izzy’s Sound News Page 14
(Garden - See Page 4)
Inside The Law Page 17
─Photo courtesy Brick Garden Club The Garden Club’s Tour & Tea is a fundraising event where you can visit residents’ gardens. (Inset): Members clean up areas of the Bob Anstett Cultural Arts Center to prep for new plants.
School District Cuts Over 60 Positions By Alyssa Riccardi BRICK – Members of the Brick Township Board of Education have voted to adopt a $160.3 million budget for the 2023-24 school year, which includes the termination of several staff positions. According to dist r ict f ig u res, the $160,370,747 budget will include a tax levy
of $120,466,734, a 1.77% increase from the previous year. The tax levy supports the largest share of the budget, as state aid continues to decline. For the 2023-34 school year, the total state aid for Brick School District is $14,632,033, down $2,542,260 – a 14.80% decrease. At a Brick BOE spe-
cial meeting, a budget presentation was held discussing its details. One portion of the presentation included the uneasy choice of staff reductions – about 34 instructional and 30 support staff. Over the past six years of S-2, this figure totals to over 250 positions cut. S-2 is the state law (School - See Page 9)
Municipal Taxes Decrease By Judy Smestad-Nunn BRICK - The proposed township budget that was introduced in late March this year went from a zero percent increase to a slight decrease, said Mayor Lisa Crate during a brief statement at the beginning of the April 25 Council Meeting. “Over the past several weeks, I have worked
with our financial team to review every line item of our budget to look for ways to keep our tax levy stable,” she said. “By sharpening our pencils and reviewing our operations further, we identified operating costs that we were able to reduce by keeping our tax levy stable, we have actually slightly - slightly - decreased the local
purpose tax rate,” the mayor said. The original proposed budget of $115,739,974 was reduced to $115,467,763. Mayor Crate said it is important to realize that this decrease is only for the township portion of the taxes and does not consider any increased levy to the school district, county or fire district.
About one third of the property tax bill is dedicated to the municipal portion for municipal uses. The tax levy, which is supported by local property taxes, is $80,547,357, down from the originally proposed amount of $80,819,568. The beginning of the meeting was also a public hearing on the municipal (Taxes - See Page 9)
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