Taxes - One of the major problems facing Ringwood residents today is capital improvements to our schools funded through property taxes.  Major repairs are urgently required for new boilers, a new roof, technology and electrical upgrades, and new windows, among other things, for the Hewitt School.  Twenty or thirty years ago, wiring was not designed for our technology rich offices, libraries, and computer labs with large numbers of computers and printers.  The responsibility of the Ringwood Board of Education is to develop a plan that will be acceptable to Ringwood Borough taxpayers.  On April 27th, 2011, Ringwood residents will be given a chance to express their opinions toward education in Ringwood for the future.  We hope that the decision made will be in favor of providing the necessary funding the district needs to improve and maintain our Hewitt Intermediate School.

Our school budgets were voted down by taxpayers in a number of our more recent school elections.  Last year, the board put together a budget that had absolutely no excess spending in it.  It still failed in the election and $417,000 was cut.  That budget being voted down was a general statement about the entire tax situation in Ringwood , but it was the school budget that was voted down and not the county or borough budgets.

Ringwood's tentative school improvement project will invest almost $12,000,000 in the Hewitt School to bring it up to specifications for education in the 21st century.  The expenditures will also include construction of an elevator in the school as mandated by New Jersey State ADA (Adults with Disabilities Act) requirements.  We are currently grand-fathered in for not having an elevator, but once we do any construction, the elevator is required by state law.

As a Ringwood taxpayer and school trustee, the board is very concerned about our current critical tax situation.  As stated earlier, Ringwood needs to consider a referendum on April 27th, 2011 for funding capital improvements to the Hewitt School and without taxpayer support, education in Ringwood will suffer dramatically for years to come.