For the first time in several years, the district budget does not require any layoffs or program reductions. Officials said they were able to avoid cuts because of the extra federal funding the district received as a result of the COVID crisis.
The vote on the budget was 6-3 and all three board members who opposed it Vincent Arrington, Jonathan Hodges and Dania Martinez cited the tax increase as the reason for their decisions.
Hodges noted that the state Department of Education had created some of the district’s financial problems by rarely raising Paterson’s school property taxes during the three decades of state control of city schools. He said that left the Paterson board with little but to increase taxes once it regained local control.