The district’s operating budget is slightly smaller, but 2026 estimates show the school levy increasing by more than the municipal-purpose levy decreases.
MOUNT ARLINGTON, NJ – The permanent $975,000 school tax increase approved by Mount Arlington voters in January largely replaces temporary borough funding and reduces the school district’s reliance on reserves, according to district and municipal records.
The district’s advertised 2026-27 operating budget is $16.08 million, about $127,000 less than the revised 2025-26 budget. Local taxpayers will supply more of that money, however, as a one-year borough payment ends and the district withdraws less from accumulated funds.
Mount Arlington’s municipal budget estimates that the local school levy will rise by $1.26 million during calendar year 2026, while the municipal-purpose levy falls by $450,234. Taken together, those two levies increase by approximately $805,441, short of the dollar-for-dollar offset anticipated when the borough and school district arranged the referendum.
How the funding moved between the borough and school district
The referendum originated in a May 6, 2025, agreement between the Borough of Mount Arlington and the Mount Arlington School District.
The district had determined that it needed $975,000 beyond the revenue it could otherwise raise, consisting of $125,000 for the 2024-25 school year and $850,000 for 2025-26. The agreement said the district would have to eliminate one or more educational purposes without the money.
Because the district had not authorized a referendum in time to raise the additional $850,000 for 2025-26, the borough agreed to supply the full $975,000 from its municipal budget. In exchange, the district agreed to ask voters to approve a permanent school levy increase of at least $850,000.
The agreement also said the parties anticipated that the higher school levy would correspond with a similar reduction in the borough levy, resulting in a “tax neutral impact to the residents of the Borough.”
It required the district to fund and make a good-faith effort to hire a full-time school business administrator. The borough also agreed to end its previous recurring $125,000 annual school contribution beginning with the 2026 municipal budget once voters approved the additional school spending.
Voters approved the $975,000 proposal on Jan. 27, according to results compiled by the New Jersey School Boards Association. The amount approved matches the entire borough contribution, including the $850,000 supplied for 2025-26 and the prior $125,000 contribution discontinued under the agreement.
The ballot authorized the district to use the money for general-fund purposes that include maintaining teachers, instructional staff, facilities, academic programs, athletics and extracurricular activities. It also informed voters that approval would permanently increase the district’s tax levy.
What the school budget shows
The district’s budget records the $850,000 borough payment under a revenue line labeled “Payments in Lieu of Taxes to School District.” That revenue falls to zero for 2026-27.
At the same time, the district reduces the amount taken from its operating fund balance from $657,956 to $384,332 and eliminates a $300,000 withdrawal from its tuition reserve. Those reductions mean the district will use approximately $574,000 less from reserves than it did in the revised 2025-26 budget.
The district’s base tax levy rises from $13.06 million to $13.32 million. The referendum adds another $975,000, bringing the advertised 2026-27 general-fund tax levy to $14.29 million.
The resulting operating budget is still slightly smaller because several expenses decline. Tuition paid for students educated outside the district falls by approximately $559,000, from $5.29 million to $4.73 million. Regular instructional spending decreases by about $91,800.
The largest increases appear in employee benefits and transportation. Benefits rise by approximately $545,000, from $1.93 million to $2.48 million, while transportation increases by nearly $170,000, from $1.08 million to $1.25 million. Athletics rise by less than $2,000, while the extracurricular-activities line decreases by about $3,900.
The district estimates that enrollment within its schools will increase from 360 to 381 students. Its comparative per-pupil cost is projected to decline from $27,299 to $26,483, while employee benefits as a percentage of salaries increase from 30.69% to 41%.
The public budget therefore provides a general answer to what the referendum is buying: it replaces borough revenue, limits the district’s use of reserves and supports a budget facing higher benefit and transportation expenses.
It does not place the referendum proceeds in a separate account or assign fixed amounts to particular teachers, courses, teams or activities. The broad ballot language allows the money to support multiple general-fund purposes, and the published budget does not identify which positions or programs would have been eliminated without voter approval.
At the district’s April 29 budget hearing, interim School Business Administrator Robin C. Tedesco presented the 2026-27 budget. The meeting minutes record no public comments on the budget and do not summarize the presentation or provide a position-by-position accounting of services retained through the referendum.
The projected effect on property taxes
The borough’s calendar-year tax breakdown estimates that the local school levy will increase from $13.06 million in 2025 to $14.31 million in 2026, an increase of approximately $1.26 million.
The municipal-purpose levy is projected to decrease from $7.06 million to $6.61 million, a reduction of $450,234, or 6.38%. The municipal portion of the tax bill for the average assessed home is projected to decline by $161.32.
Using the borough’s average 2026 residential assessment of $412,451, its estimated school levy and its total taxable property value, Morristown Minute calculates an average local school tax of approximately $5,576. That would be about $518 more than the 2025 average school tax listed in the municipal budget.
After accounting for the projected $161 municipal reduction, the combined school and municipal-purpose portions would increase by approximately $356 for the average assessed home, before changes to county, library and county open-space taxes. Actual bills will depend on each property’s assessed value.
The district and borough figures differ slightly because the school budget covers the fiscal year beginning July 1, while the municipal tax breakdown covers the calendar year and includes tax adjustments. Both documents point in the same direction: the permanent school levy increase exceeds the municipal levy reduction projected for 2026.
The records reviewed for this article do not include a reconciliation explaining how the agreement’s anticipated like-sized municipal reduction became a $450,234 decrease in the borough’s 2026 estimate. They also do not provide a list of the individual school positions, programs or activities preserved by the referendum.
The Mount Arlington Board of Education’s next meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 15, according to the district calendar.