A preliminary draft of the Ocean City School District budget for 2015-16 anticipates a small cut in the tax rate for Ocean City property owners.
The Ocean City Board of Education on Wednesday saw an outline of a proposed budget that will ask for the exactly same amount of money from taxpayers — $21,965,332 — that it did in the 2014-15 budget. But because the total value of taxable real estate increased this year (Ocean City’s ratable base climbed to about $11.3 billion), Ocean City’s tax rate would fall by one-third of a penny.
The owner of a $500,000 home would expect to pay about $16.54 less in school taxes, if the budget were approved as is.
The full budget detail will be introduced to the board on March 18, and a public hearing and vote on a final budget is expected to take place April 29.
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Salaries and benefits account for about $31.8 million of the overall $40.5 million budget, and that figure remains flat compared to last year, with planned retirements offsetting contractual increases, according to interim Business Administrator Mark Ritter.
School Choice Aid also is expected to remain flat at about $2.3 million. There will be no expansion of the program that allows out-of-district students to attend Ocean City schools with the state paying the tuition.
Tuition rates paid by sending districts in Upper Township, Sea Isle City and Longport will increase slightly at the high school level — from $14,957 to $15,537 — under the draft budget.
At the same time, the city government recently introduced a municipal budget that calls for only a 1.32 percent increase to the tax rate. City taxes, school taxes and county taxes make up the overall tax bill.
