Christie Cuts $196K in Westfield School Aid

Gov. Chris Christie's announcement yesterday that he will be cutting school aid payments for local school districts will cost Westfield $196,419 in remaining aid due from the state.

Christie made the announcement as part of an address to the state legislature where he declared a fiscal state of emergency and unilaterally cut $1.5 billion from the current state budget. The school aid cuts, which make up $475 million of the total the governor cut from the budget, are being based on the amount of surplus the district had budgeted for. The Board of Education's decision last year to not have a surplus balance, spared Westfield the cuts other Union County towns received.

Schools Superintendent Margaret Dolan said she and other school district officials are already processing the impact the $196,000 cut will have on the school district. The cut is for the current fiscal year, ending on June 30. She noted she is thankful the cut wasn't higher, even though the reasons for the decision to not cut the state aid payment more were based on the lack of a surplus in town.

"Because we are in the midst of a difficult budget year, we were not cut as bad as the other towns," Dolan said.

A document released by the governor's office showed that the Westfield Board of Education has zero dollars in excess surplus. The district's capital, maintenance and emergency surplus totals a scant $869. The document shows that the school district's projected fund balance for June 30 is $1,510,685.  Before Christie's cut, Westfield was due an additional $1,574,566 in school aid of a total $4,670,514 allocated by state education officials last year.

Dolan said the district is determining what needs to be cut from the budget in response the $196,000 cut from the Christie Administration. She said the state aid cut impacts the current fiscal year and the next fiscal year as well. The district rolls over any monies left over at the end of one fiscal year to the next to offset any tax increase. The governor's cut will result in $196,000 being unavailable to roll over for next year.

The projected state aid amounts for local school districts for the next fiscal year are expected to be released by state education officials in mid March. The projections are due out when Christie details his spending plan for the next fiscal year.

Dolan said the worst thing that could impact the school district's budget for the rest of the fiscal year is a repeat of this week's blizzard. She said the district budgeted for one large storm and several smaller storms and that another storm could have a dire fiscal impact on the town. Dolan said it is hard to project how much money a large snow storm would cost the district, since the figure is determined by such factors as the day and time of the snow fall and if it is a holiday. This helps determine how much is needed to be paid in overtime costs for district employees to clear the snow.

"I am hoping that we don't have another large snow storm," Dolan said.