Taxes

The Franklin Township school district will receive about $13.2 million in state aid in the 2014-2015 school year, a 1.2 percent increase over this year’s aid. State aid to the district was flat for the 2013-2014 school year, coming in at the same $12,991,848 as in the 2012-2013 school year. The district saw a $1.4 million bump – nearly 12 …

The school district is no longer considering outsourcing its 123 paraprofessionals as a means to bridge a $1.7 million budget gap, but it has not ruled out some type of staff reduction. In a letter sent to staff members and posted on the district Web site, interim schools Superintendent Eveny Pagan said outsourcing the paraprofessionals “is no longer a consideration …

Two contracts worth $69,000 were approved by the Township Council at its Feb. 25 meeting. The largest of the two, worth $55,000 a year, was awarded to Joseph Smentkowski, Inc. of Jersey City for servicing the township mini-dump. The two-year contract expires on Feb. 28, 2016. A $14,000 contract for electrical services as needed was awarded to Vetter Electric of …

Robert Trautmann, a Board of Education member in the middle of his first term, has resigned. But he’s not going quietly. In his Feb. 24 resignation letter, Trautmann said his goal is to see board president Julia Presley, board vice president Eva Nagy and board member Richard Arline “removed from their position as board members and restore order, civility and …

All proposed budgets passed in last week’s Fire District elections. The results from the Feb. 15 vote are as follows: Fire District 1: Incumbent Commissioners Jason Goldberg and newcomer Timothy P. Jahno won three-year seats. The proposed $3.5 million budget was approved, 138-39. Fire District 2: Incumbent Commissioners Pelham Stewart and Edward Carson won their seats. The proposed approximately $1 …

An $85 million referendum that would result in a new elementary school and a reconfiguration of the Pre-K to 8th Grade schools could be held in September, now that state grant money has been promised to the district. That was the word from Board of Education vice president Eva Nagy at the Feb. 20 meeting. Nagy said the state has …

An expected vote to privatize the school district’s 123 paraprofessionals was put off Feb. 20 by the Board of Education. District officials said they wanted more time to gather information to answer questions posed by the public at the Feb. 17 special meeting, when more than two hours of comment was heard by the board on the proposal. The board …

School district teachers’ aides showed up in force at the Feb. 17 Board of Education meeting to tell the board just what they thought of yet another proposal to outsource their jobs. In a nutshell: Not much. Over the course of more than two hours, the paraprofessionals and their supporters took the podium during the meeting’s public portion to warn …

The Township Council is now the body in charge of the Hamilton Street business district Special Improvement Zone. Thanks to a last-minute amendment to the ordinance making that so, the council’s status as the SID’s “district management corporation” is limited to two years. Business and property owners included in the Hamilton Street SID are eligible to be named to a …

Professional contracts worth $273,000 were awarded at the Feb. 11 Township Council meeting. The largest, $200,000, was for township attorney Louis Rainone, a member of the DeCotiis, Fitzpatrick and Cole law firm. The council also approved contracts for: Township prosecutor, with the Singer & Fedun law firm, worth $28,000 Associate prosecutor, with Art Skaar of Hillsborough, worth $20,000 Alternate prosecutors, …