The Board of School Estimate voted Monday evening to approve a 3.98 percent tax hike in the 2009-2010 budget by a vote of 6-2.

The budget was unanimously passed by the Board of Education on March 16 and calls for $94.7 million to be raised for the general fund — not counting about $3.2 million in debt service taxes. Supporters of the budget pointed out that it contains funding for full-day kindergarten—an initiative touted by Superintendent Brian Osborne—and new teacher hires to maintain class size as elementary school enrollment is projected to grow, as well as the lowest tax increase in 20 years.

While several members of the Board—comprised of three representatives each from South Orange and Maplewood and two members of the Board of Education—expressed displeasure with a process that gives them just one to two weeks to review the numbers before voting on the tax levy, the majority opinion was that the two towns can ill afford to under-fund their schools.

"We can't nickel and dime our way, trying to cut back," said South Orange Trustee Howard Levison, who noted that the current budgeting process places a greater tax burden on South Orange residents, and he wants to see the inequity addressed.

"The sad truth is that if you defer some education one year, you can’t spend a little money next year and catch up," said Steve Latz of the Maplewood Citizens Budget Advisory Committee, who spoke during the public comment period. A nine-year member of the Board of Education, Latz also said that skimping on schools would have a negative impact on property values.

The tax increase got the six votes it needed for passage, despite the two "no" votes cast by Maplewood Mayor Vic DeLuca and Township Committee member Lester Lewis-Powder. Both cited Maplewood's recent layoffs of 17 employees underscoring a need for greater fiscal austerity, as well as e-mails from residents exhorting them to trim the budget. (In contrast, South Orange Trustees Michael Goldberg and Mark Rosner—who served as an alternate—spoke of numerous e-mails encouraging them to approve the tax increase.)

"I think we need to trim [the budget] a little bit more," said DeLuca, who spoke of having a plan that would have kept two out of three enrichment teacher hires and six out of seven elementary school teacher hires funded by the approved budget.

"I think if we had some time to go back, or at least another week, there could be analysis that could yield some cuts," said Lewis-Powder.

Village President Douglas Newman voted in favor of the tax increase, while noting that the budget was hardly perfect. He advocated starting the Board of School Estimate's deliberations in January of next year and called the district's reluctance to share budget numbers prior to receiving state aid figures "a red herring."

"[The process] is independent and irrespective of extraordinary aid that you may or may not get," Newman said.