School Election Set for Wednesday

Polls will be open from 2 to 9 p.m. on Wednesday for the 2011 school election.

This year, voters will have an opportunity to select three new board members from among nine candidates. The positions available are three-year seats.

Also on the ballot will be listed the tax levy to fund the proposed 2011-12 school budget. The figure that voters will see is $74,368,937, which would be taxpayers' contribution toward a total proposed budget of $89,591,507, including debt service. Taxpayers also will pick up a $5.8 million debt service payment toward previously approved projects, but they do not vote on that figure. 

School officials said the requested tax levy is a 2 percent increase above the 2010-11 tax levy of $72,910,723 to fund the base budget, not including debt payments. 

However, School Business Administrator Nick Markarian said last month that because the school budget is averaged over six months during each calendar year, the proposed budget, if approved, actually would increase the local school tax rate by about 3.6 percent for this year. That increase would add an additional $248.53 onto local school taxes paid by the owner of an average township home, assessed at $581,059, he said.

Over the last two weeks, the Basking Ridge Patch on a daily basis ran videos and information on each of the nine candidates.

The featured candidates include Previous candidate profiles include    ,   , and 

Some voting districts have been changed. If you're not sure where to vote, you can check with the township at 908-204-3001. Polling locations are as follows:

• Ridge Oak Senior Housing—District 3
• Bernards Township Library—Districts 1 and 6
• Basking Ridge Firehouse—Districts 2 and 7
• Liberty Corner Firehouse—Districts 12 and 14
• Fellowship Village—Districts 16 and 20
• Hills Recreation Center—Districts 4, 21, 22, 23 and 24
• Bernards Township Community Center—Districts 9, 10 and 17
• Society Hill at Bernards II Clubhouse—Districts 13 and 18
• Somerset Hills Lutheran Church—Districts 5 and 8 
• Spring Ridge Clubhouse—Districts 11, 15 and 19
•  Note: The new District 4 votes at the Hills Recreation Center.