On Behalf of the Bound Brook School District, I'm writing to you today, the taxpayers of Bound Brook, to update you on our funding issues. The fact that we are the most underfunded district in the entire State of New Jersey has not changed all that much. However, we were recently notified that we received some additional funding this year from the State of New Jersey.

The median household income in Bound Brook is $62,263. It is 10% lower than the New Jersey median household income of $69,640 and 54% lower than Somerset County median household income of $97,168. 

Obviously, our district is at a significant disadvantage as we are not able to spend at least up to the adequacy level for the State of New Jersey. Districts like ours that also tax their residents above the local fair share, are in a no-win situation. The taxpayers in our districts are overburdened, and yet we still don't have the resources to fund an adequate budget.

The Board of Education recently received additional state aid in the form of equalization aid as an offset to our current underfunding issues. We were 11.3 million dollars underfunded as per the State adequacy calculation. The State of New Jersey provided 1.5 million dollars in additional equalization aid to the district. The board chose to alleviate the burden on tax payers by reducing the upcoming tax bill. The district had approved a 2% increase for this school year, the board has approved tax relief in the amount of $500,000 to reduce taxes. The average home in Bound Brook should receive about a $169.00 a year decrease in taxes. This represents almost a 4% decrease in taxes from the upcoming tax bill.

The Board of Education continues to balance the needs of the students and community with the burden of the tax levy as fairly as possible. Should the aid continue for the next budget cycle, the hope is that we can further reduce the school taxes on the tax bill for the people of Bound Brook.

Truly,

Daniel Gallagher

Superintendent of Schools