Election Held on 9/29/09 in Brick

There is an election in Brick tomorrow featuring several proposals pertaining to school expenditures. Should voters approve authorizations for funding? Polls are open between 11 AM and 9 PM. The total for the bond referendum amounts to more than 172,000,000 dollars. The money would be alloted to purchase equipment as well as for additions and improvements to various schools in town.

I've received an election notice in the mail and think the interpretive statement falls far short of being a useful explanatory device. There are monetary figures correlating to state grants and bonds. The number figues are many and the explanation too complex for one trying to decipher how much the proposals would add to property taxes.

The August 8th edition of The Brick Times may be more helpful. A front page article from that edition titled Public Does Not Give Warm Welcome To School Referendum Presentation was authored by Eric San Juan. In it was the claim that an approval of all four proposals would add $147.31 annually to property taxes for homes assessed at a value of $100,000. The average assessment in Brick is said to be $134,700.

I do not know if the property assessment figures provided in The Brick Times article are accurate but this is the type of information sought after by voters. Education is very important and probably most voters either have or had children of their own who attended schools in Brick. Still, these are not good economic times and the addition of about $200 to an average home's taxes is not welcome news. The election outcome will be eagerly anticipated by many.