Free & Fun Community Day
At Dream Park, June 5

LOGAN TWP. -- The Gloucester County Board of Chosen Freeholders invites county residents and visitors to a free Community Day at the Gloucester County DREAM Park on Saturday, June 5 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The Gloucester County DREAM Park is a premier equestrian center located at 400 US Route 130 South in Logan Township.

“We are very excited to open the DREAM Park up for Community Day. It is going to be a lot of fun and really show our beautiful park,” said Freeholder Director Stephen M. Sweeney.

“Just under two years ago the County opened the DREAM Park and we have been consistently booked with events,” said Sweeney. 

“June is Horse Month in New Jersey so this day is a great way to honor our equestrians and horses and teach our children about all the different types of activities and disciplines that are involved with horses,” Sweeney said.

Sweeney said that DREAM Park Community Day will feature pony rides for the kids, horse demonstrations throughout the day, exhibits and free tours of the Equestrian Facility.

An opening ceremony is planned for 9:30 a.m. in the Main Indoor arena and the following is a list of activities and participants of the day:

Main Indoor Arena:

9:00 a.m.: Beginner riding Lesson: Horsemanship basics -  Delia/Apollo Riding and basic horsemanship Lesson

9:30 a.m.: Welcome by Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney & NJ Agriculture Secretary Doug Fisher

10 a.m.: The Bone and Muscle demonstration on a live horse: GCC 

11 a.m.:  Eastern Champion WPRCA BARREL Racing Demo: Judy Merola will demonstrate Barrel racing

12 p.m. : Champion FFCPRCA Cory Clement Roping Demo: Cory Clement will give a horse demo/lesson on roping

1 p.m.: Sport Horse hunter / jumper:  Jumping horse demonstration

2 p.m.: Intro to Dressage : Desiree Bene – two top riders will give a presentation on the basic movements of dressage.

Outside: GHSA TENT (Behind Main Arena)

Garden State Horse Shoeing Assoc.:  9 a.m. to 3 p.m. - Farrier/Blacksmith  Exhibit and Demonstrations

9 a.m. -  If two horses are shod the same, one of them is probably shod wrong!!

10 a.m. - Safe and easy horse handling 

11 a.m. - Is your horse a candidate for laminitis and founder??

12 p.m. - Preparation of the hoof before shoeing

1 p.m. - Hand making shoes for shoeing the horse

2 p.m. - Applying the shoe and finishing the foot    
 

Outdoor Schooling Ring (Next to Main Arena)

Arabian Horse Association: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. - Horse demonstrations, lunging, training, riding. 

In Annex Room:

NJ Quarter Horse Association: Jr. Master’s training program with hand outs and scheduled activities

Show Barn B:

The Breeds of Horses Barn Walk: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Different breeds of horses in stalls with information on each breed displayed.

 

Outside Park Vicinity:

Horses and friends "Meet and Greet"  9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Walking outside around Park) Horses hanging out for people to see, touch and admire, for petting and discussing horses.

For more information, please call (856) 241-1415 or visit the Dream Park’s website at www.dreamparknj.com.

School budgets reaching resolution, Borough taxes down another 2.5¢
 

By Mike Williams

SWEDESBORO – It’s been over a month since voters throughout the county struck down the majority of the proposed school budgets in the April 20 elections. With the defeated plans falling into the hands of municipal officials, the deadline to trim down the budgets was set for May 21.

During the regular borough council meeting on May 17, Mayor Tom Fromm announced that the Kingsway Regional budget had been slashed by $1.2 million.

“The tax increase was going to be 16 cents [per $100 of assessed property value], it’s now going to be down to 11 or 11.5,” said Fromm. “We found that that was a number we could live with.”

Kingsway teachers accepted a one year pay freeze and additional budget cuts.

As for making cuts to the Swedesboro-Woolwich school district’s budget – that process did not go as smoothly.

The Swedesboro-Woolwich Education Association has not yet accepted a salary freeze, which prompted the councils of the two towns to delay voting on a resolution for their district’s budget. The councils wanted to give the SWEA additional time to hold a discussion on the salary freeze, so a resolution was not accepted for the May 21 deadline. Despite the delay, however, the SWEA never brought the freeze to a discussion.

According to the SWEA website, “Because the law provides no protection for teachers and school employees who accept a wage freeze, districts can strong-arm associations into accepting a freeze and still cut jobs and privatize staff.”

The SWEA asserts that it is not accepting a pay freeze because there is no guarantee that jobs will be saved if pay is frozen. They present alternate ways of cutting costs, including reducing the number of teacher-in-service days.

On May 24 special public meetings were held in Woolwich and Swedesboro to bring the budget to a resolution. Both councils unanimously approved cuts totaling in $755,310.42, which assumes a salary freeze for teachers and staff. The cuts also include $50,000 for not filling a superintendent position.

The tax impact will be about 24.2 cents, a decrease of 5.7 cents from the original 29.9 cent increase. For the average home assessed at $96,105 this is a savings of about $55.

The budgets will now go to the county superintendent and then to the state for certification. If the budgets are certified, the total amount cut ­­will become fixed. It will then be in the hands of each district’s Board of Education to determine where to apply the cuts.

On a side note Mayor Fromm said that the councils are beginning to have discussions about having shared services for the school districts. This could help cut costs in the future by making the schools more efficient, he said.

“We’re not looking at this as ‘if we can do this.’ We’re looking at ‘how we can do this.’ Otherwise we’ll be studying [sharing services] the same way we’ve been studying it for the last 15 years,” said Fromm.

In other budget news, Fromm announced that thanks to an auditing issue, Swedesboro’s local tax is going down an additional 2.5 cents on top of the 15.1 cent decrease announced last month. This a total decrease of 17.6 cents per $100 of assessed property value.

“So what started as a 45 cent increase for the two schools has been reduced to around 16.6 cents when you deduct our local tax decrease and the cuts made at the local and regional school budgets.,” said Fromm in a follow-up email. Though this reduced the tax impact by about $275 for average home, he said this is “still too much, but a tremendous decrease from how bad it could have been.”

Committee Suggests Cuts Totaling $250,000 for the Defeated School Budget

by Beth S. Biermann

EAST GREENWICH – The township committee passed a resolution making recommendations for $253,000 worth of cuts to the East Greenwich school budget on May 11.

Before the resolution passed, several residents pleaded that the committee reconsider the amount of cuts proposed. Gloria Horvay, a librarian at the Samuel Mickel School, suggested making cuts in proportion to the number of negative votes, taking into consideration the narrow margin by which the budget was defeated.

Karen Rossett, a teacher at the Samuel Mickel School, asked if the committee was answering to the governor or to the new students coming in to the school system and the parents who move to the township for the school district.

Mayor Fred Grant responded that the committee was answering to the people. “When the school budget is defeated, we have to make cuts in response to the voters.” He also reminded the residents in attendance that the township committee recommends a dollar amount to be cut from the budget when it is voted down, but they cannot require where to make those cuts. They can only make suggestions. It is ultimately the decision of the school board as to where the budget will be cut.

Grant stated that the recommended reduction of $253,000 will not impact children as far as programs. “Our recommendation is to cut the 4.5% increase in teacher salaries.” He added that this is not a reflection of what is going on in the schools, but a reflection of the tough economy.

In response to several residents’ comments regarding the narrow margin of defeat, Committeeman William Bumbernick stated, “Even though it was a slim margin, democracy is a majority.”

Committeeman Samuel Giordano, Jr. added that he was a product of this school system and moved back to the township because of the quality of the schools. He explained that the committee’s recommendations to the school board are honoring the wishes of the voters. “This is a sacrifice we have to ask the community to make.”

The proposed $12 million school budget was rejected by voters by a narrow margin of 716 to 706. A resident with an average home value of $169,500 would have seen an increase of $183 in their school tax, resulting in a total school tax bill of $2,763. Enrollment is anticipated to increase from 863 students in the fall of 2009, to an estimated 939 in the fall of 2010.

In response to the township’s recommendation, the teachers did not agree to a wage freeze. This resulted in the school board having to find other areas in which to cut the $253,000 recommended by the township committee.

According to Superintendent Joseph Conroy, a new part-time basic skills instructor, a world language teacher and a part time guidance counselor were cut from the budget. In addition, the school system will no longer have a string musical instrument enrichment program.

In other business, Democrat Jeffrey Craig was sworn in as a replacement for resigning Committeeman Brenden Garozzo.

Garozzo submitted his letter of resignation at the April 27 meeting, citing personal reasons. He is moving out of East Greenwich and since committee members must be township residents, he needed to resign. Garozzo was elected in 2007, along with running mate Mayor Fred Grant.

The East Greenwich Democratic Organization submitted three names to the committee for consideration. The committee then nominated Jeffrey Craig and he was sworn in to fill Garozzo’s unexpired term.

Craig is an attorney who has been an East Greenwich resident since 2007. Before moving to the township, he served one term as a council member in Woodbury. He has served on the planning board since January 2009 and has been involved in coaching several East Greenwich youth sports teams, including baseball, basketball and soccer.

Committee Recommends
Wage Freeze for School District

by Beth S. Biermann

WOOLWICH – Following two official committee meetings and many informal meetings with the Swedesboro Borough Council, the Swedesboro-Woolwich School Board, representatives from the Swedesboro-Woolwich Education Association (SWEA), and the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), the Woolwich Township Committee has recommended a $755,000 cut from the Swedesboro-Woolwich school budget.

By a margin of 1,118 to 908, voters rejected the proposed $12.9 million Swedesboro-
Woolwich school budget that would have increased the school tax in Woolwich by $502 for a resident with an average home value of $181,400. The district lost $1.3 million in state aid for the coming school year.

At a regular township committee meeting on May 17, Mayor Joe Chila explained that since the school budget was voted down by the residents, the township committee was tasked with recommending a dollar amount that the school board needed to cut from the budget, along with suggestions as to where to make the cuts.

Chila explained two options that were being considered. The first would suggest $755,000 of cuts to the budget and would result in no loss of teachers. It would, however, require a wage freeze for all school district staff, including the teachers.

The second option was a $1.2 million dollar reduction, referred to as a “disaster scenario.” The suggested cuts related to this option include a total of 25 jobs lost, including five kindergarten teachers (forcing the kindergarten schedule to go to half day), 10 first through fifth grade teachers, two sixth grade teachers, six basic skills instruction positions, one nurse, one secretary, and the curriculum coordinator.

This option would also require $15,600 unemployment compensation be paid to all employees who lost their jobs, a total of approximately $400,000 that would have to be added to the school board’s expenses.

The committee held off on choosing either option, preferring to wait to see what action, if any, the teachers would take. He also explained that both Woolwich and Swedesboro asked the County Superintendent Mark Stanwood to extend the May 19 deadline for action of school budgets, to avoid being designated “failure to certify.”

Chila added that should extraordinary aid become available from the state, it would only go to towns that have cooperation from all employees, including pay freezes. According to the Swedesboro-Woolwich School District website, the school board included a provision that the lost wages would be restored to the teachers in the event that state aid was restored.

The district website also stated that the teachers’ union demanded concessions to the wage freeze that more than outnumbered the savings that would be seen from the wage freeze itself. These concessions included an additional three days off with pay and an increase in payments from the school district toward the employees’ insurance premiums.

A letter written on the SWEA website states that the teachers’ union believes that “the Board was not willing to implement certain safeguards that we feel are necessary to protect ALL our members… Because the law provides no protection for teachers and school employees who accept a wage freeze, districts can strong-arm associations into accepting a freeze and still cut jobs and privatize staff.”

At a special meeting held on May 24, the committee made its official charge to the school board to cut $755,000 from the defeated school budget, including almost $400,000 in wage freezes. This would decrease by 10 cents the original 28 cent tax increase, resulting in a net increase of 18 cents per $100 of home value.

This translates to an approximate increase of $326.50 for a resident in an average home worth $181,400, as opposed to the $502 increase in the original defeated school budget.

Chila pointed out that if the teachers refuse to forgo their proposed 4.7 percent raises, the school board will be forced to find other areas of the budget to cut that $400,000, which would be equivalent to 9 or 10 teaching jobs.

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