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Acting State Commissioner of Education Kimberley Harrington has approved Loch Arbour’s petition to withdraw from the Ocean Township School District.

“It’s a great victory for Loch Arbour because we were clearly paying a disproportionate portion of the school district’s tax levy,” said Mayor Paul Fernicola (above).

In its November 2015 feasibility study, Loch Arbour cited crippling school taxes as its primary reason for the request.

Last year, Loch Arbour paid $2.1 million in taxes, equating to a $125,000 per pupil cost, to have its 16 students educated in the Ocean Township School District, Fernicola said. Conversely, the Ocean Township School District’s per pupil cost is $16,000 per student.

“Loch Arbour has been paying 3.6 percent of the Ocean Township School District’s tax levy,” Fernicola said.

The large tax burden was a result of the 2008-09 Student Funding Reform Act [SFRA] put in place under the Corzine administration, Fernicola said. Prior to that, Loch Arbour was taxed on a 110 percent per pupil calculation or a flat $300,000 levy, whichever was higher. The incorporated village school tax jumped from $300,00 to $1.8 million.

“What you were paying in annual taxes became your quarterly tax bill,” Fernicola said. “It was so onerous on Loch Arbour. The amount we were paying in taxes really had a negative impact on the ability to sell homes.”

New home buyers were opting to purchase homes in neighboring Interlaken and Allenhurst where per pupil tax bills were considerably lower.

But among those who did opt to sell where resident on fixed incomes who could not meet the escalated tax bill. Fernicola said the small community of 131 homes lost 8 to 10 of it senior residents who owned property for close to 60 years.

Fernicola said the final step will be to hold a special election as soon as possible, preferably within 60 days.

Voters will cast ballots on whether or not to approve the withdrawal of students from the Ocean Township School District in order to send them to West Long Branch at a $16,000 to $17,000 per pupil coast. The measure will come with an estimated $11,000 to $12,000 annual tax savings.

“I think most people will want the change from the oppressive taxes we have been paying,” Fernicola said.

For Ocean Township taxpayers, the transition will mean an estimated $166 increase to their tax annual bill.

In her decision, Harrington also found that Loch Arbour had no debt responsibility for the 28.9 million construction bond approved in 2014 for upgrades and new classrooms and athletic facilities.

“In this case, no facilities lie within Loch Arbour, and thus, it will not assume any indebtedness,” Harrington said. “Moreover, given the nature of the construction projects…, the withdrawal of Loch Arbour’s students is unlikely to render the new additions vacant or underutilized.”

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