Taxes

Parents and students from across the school district joined teachers and administrators Dec. 6 at Franklin High School for what was billed as a day of celebrating township schools. Punctuating the day, amid the student performances and curriculum demonstrations, were subtle and not-so-subtle messages in favor of the Dec. 9 construction referendum.

Township voters will decide Dec. 9 whether they’re willing to invest an average $166 a year in funding improvements to the school district’s buildings and realigning the elementary school grades. That’s the increase in yearly school-portion property tax bills estimated by school officials if the roughly $85 million referendum is approved. The figure is based on the average residential assessment …

A scheduled vote to rejoin a statewide consortium to buy natural gas starting next year was postponed by the Board of Education at its Nov. 20 meeting. The board took the action on the recommendation of interim schools Superintendent Lee Seitz.

A township family’s negligence lawsuit against the Board of Education was given new life recently by a state Appellate Court panel. The three judges remanded to Superior Court the lawsuit brought by Freddy Florian and his mother, Carmela, which a Superior Court judge sitting in New Brunswick had dismissed on summary judgment.

Somerset County began several road paving projects on Oct. 31, which should take less than two weeks to complete, according to a notice from the township. Portions of South Middlebush, Amwell and Weston Canal roads will be repaved. These will be nighttime paving projects and the roadways will remain open with an alternating traffic pattern.

The township will soon accept bids for a new plenary retail consumption liquor license. Based on the last census which showed there are 62,300 people in the township, state regulations allow the township to issue five of the liquor licenses, which are used by bars and taverns.

Contracts totaling more than $76,000 were approved at the Oct. 23 Board of Education meeting. The board approved a contract with Full Service Vending of Rockaway, through which the company will pay the board $27,118.05 to provide and maintain vending machines in the district’s schools.

[wpgmappity id=”14″]   Work that was originally supposed to have been completed on Weston Canal Road between Randolph Road and Cottontail Lane on Oct. 3 i snow not expected to be finished for another two to three weeks, according to a release from the Somerset County Freeholders.

In a move that was met with a standing ovation and cries of “thank you,” the Township Council Sept. 22 voted to prohibit any type of sound system in Middlebush Park. The vote was not unanimous. Township Councilman Carl R.A. Wright and Deputy Mayor Brian Regan voted against the proposal, while Mayor Brian Levine sided with the remaining Democrats in …