Defeated Edison School Budget and the Edison Council

Well, as you can see from the April 23 & 24 posts, you can color me skeptical (probably more realistically - downright cynical) that the Edison Council will do what the residents wanted when they voted down this $213.9 million Out-of-Control School Budget for 2013-14, which was to rein in $pending and actually reduce school tax bills - not come back with a nominal reduction in the proposed school tax increase.

Now, I don't come to this conclusion lightly in this election year. The Edison Council has sent a clear message by appointing Rob 'March on Trenton' Karabinchak to the sub-committee reviewing the school budget with a proposed and resident rejected School tax levy of $189.5 million. Not for nothing but he's the only one of the three members on the Edison Council's Finance Committee who doesn't have a financial background. Guess the other two are too busy chasing down that No tax increase Municipal Budget for 2013 with a proposed Municipal tax levy of $78.2 million.

Be that as it may, it might be helpful to know what was sent over to the Edison Council for their review of the 2013-14 School Budget. I referred to it in a previous post and it's affectionately known as the 'Defeated Budget Book.' It comes in a big binder that, I'm guessing, is about 3 inches thick. 

You can see the Table of Contents below and it has 15 sections.

Just some things of interest:

• Election Results - The official election results had the final budget vote as 2,877 Yes (48.7%) and 3,018 No (51.3%). Of the 55,041 registered voters, 6,325 cast votes or some 11.5%. Of those who showed up at the polls in the 33 school districts to vote, the turn-out ranged from 1.8% to 17.7%. Of the 6,325 votes cast - 420 or 6.6% didn't vote on the school budget.

• Post Election Calendar - this is where all the dates are shown from the April 16 Election Day through the appeal process for any Council Cuts. Most significant are when the Board of Mythomnia must turn over the proposed school budget to the Edison Council - which must be within two days following certification of the election results (I understand that this was turned over to the Edison Council on April 22) and the other is May 20 - last day for the Edison Council to certify the school tax levy, after reviewing the budget with the Board of Mythomania.

• Staff & Salary Lists - this list shows 1,987 employees with salary of $126,901,287, longevity of $1,695,884, other extra pay of $1,785,450 for total salaries of $130,382,621

• Negotiated Contracts - this includes the Professional staff (7/1/11-6/30/14), the Non-Professional staff (6/1/11-6/30/14, Principals & Supervisors (7/1/12-6/30/15), Custodians & Maintenance (7/1/09-6/30/12) and the Facilities, Maintenance & Mgt. Assoc. (7/1/09-6/30/12)

Anyhoo, it is what it is here in Downtown Edison and last I heard - the Edison Council has scheduled a public meeting on the School Budget on Wednesday, May 15 at 6:00PM in the Council chambers.

Here's the Table of Contents:

Here's the Official Election Results:

Finally, here's the Summary of the Staff & Salary List: