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Interim Executive Monmouth County Superintendent of School Lester Richens set Loch Arbour’s special election for April 4.

The special election is being held to solidify Acting State Commissioner of Education Kimberley Harrington’s approval of Loch Arbour’s petition of withdrawal from Ocean Township School District.

Mayor Paul Fernicola said residents will cast ballots on whether the village’s students should withdraw from Ocean School District and begin attending the West Long Branch schools for grades K-8, and Shore Regional High School.

But within days of the County Superintendent’s decision, Loch Arbour received Ocean Township’s Board of Education Notice of Appeal filed with the State Appellate Division and its application for an injunction to try to prevent the Loch Arbour election from taking place on April 4th, Fernicola said.

“It is deplorable for the Ocean Township school board to challenge a decision by the State Commissioner of Education to permit Loch Arbour residents decide where our children are to be educated and to attempt to prevent Loch Arbour residents from voting on this issue on April 4th,” Fernicola said in a written statement. “This is a desperate, mean-spirited and undemocratic effort by the Ocean school board to keep our 14 students in the Ocean Township schools solely to perpetuate an exorbitant and unfair tax burden on Loch Arbour that has made Loch Arbour one of, if not the most heavily taxed municipality in the entire state.”

Fernicola said the village pays an estimated $143,000 per student to the Ocean Township school district when, in comparison, Ocean’s actual costs are approximately $16,500 per student.

In a formal statement from the Board of Education announcing their appeal of the students’ withdrawal, the board outlined current and post withdrawal taxes determined by the property value based formula:

Ocean Township (Currently)		Village of Loch Arbour (Currently)
Assessed Value	2016 Taxes	Assessed Value	2016 Taxes
$322,900	$7,441.48	$327,700	$7,035.72
$1,147,400	$26,826.22	$1,245,300	$26,736.59
$1,751,800	$40,957.08	$1,820,000	$39,075.40

 

Ocean Township (Post dissolution)		Village of Loch Arbour (Post dissolution)
Assessed Value	2016 Taxes	Assessed Value	2016 Taxes
$322,900	$7,636.87	$327,700	$3,165.34
$1,147,400	$27,520.51	$1,245,300	$12,028.69
$1,751,800	$42,017.10	$1,820,000	$17,579.87

“Should Loch Arbour be permitted to proceed with not supporting [Ocean’s] public school system this will create a gap in budget that will need to be addressed by increased taxes for all Ocean Township residents and/or decreased educational programs that can be offered,” the statement read. “As a result, the Ocean Township Board of Education will be filing an appeal of the acting commissioner’s decision to allow Loch Arbour to form an independent school district. Since this is ongoing litigation we cannot comment on the specifics of the appeal…”

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