The HOWELL Times
Vol. 17 - No. 48
In This Week’s Edition
MICROMEDIA PUBLICATIONS
JERSEYSHOREONLINE.COM
Helping Hands Make Howell Great
BREAKING NEWS @
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Community News! Page 8-10
Dear Pharmacist Page 13
America’s Test Kitchen Page 19
─Photo courtesy Howell Municipal Alliance Coordinator Christa Riddle An Aldrich Road residence provides a message of hope with a sign featuring the motto of “Jersey Strong” during the COVID-19 pandemic. By Bob Vosseller HOWELL - During this unique time of COVID-19 conf inement, school and public building closures, job suspensions, furloughs and government meetings held via virtual means, township residents are tr ying to make things better. As social distancing, empty shelves and re-
mote learning became part of the new normal, Billy Stahnten, Robert Seaman, and Councilman Thomas Russo took on a project to help residents with delivering needs ranging from toilet paper to food. “Howell has great com mu n it y spi r it,” Russo said. “We were just trying to help out and we got a lot of sup-
port from other residents.” Seaman, a resident of the township for the last seven years, has worked to gather and even cook food for those in need in the past. Now many in need are fi nding it difficult to get to food due to the conditions of the COVID-19 guidelines. He wanted to reduce
some of that need by continuing his role in supporting a program his church in Asbury Park has been involved with for years. “Once you volunteer it is amazing how all these opportunities come up,” Seaman added. That was how he, Stahnten and Russo ended up teaming up to (Hands - See Page 2)
Monmouth ACTS Answers County’s COVID-19 Needs
By Bob Vosseller FREEHOLD – Those impacted by the current COVID-19 pandemic are f i ndi ng some relief through the Monmouth ACTS (Assisting Community Through Services) program. Mon mouth ACTS
is a pu bl ic - p r ivat e initiative to promote and enhance access to human services. The prog ram was created by the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders in 2018 to carry out recommendations of a Hu m a n S e r v ic e s
Need s Assessment. It i s a p u bl i c - p r i vate partnership that brings together Count y e mploye e s f rom t he D e p a r t me nt of Human Services and c om mu n it y/p r ivat e partners on the Monmouth ACTS Advisory Council (MAAC)
to enhance access to services for County residents. Mon mouth ACTS is identif ying the most pressing issues th roughout Monmouth County and the most effective ways to communicate critical services and support
systems to residents. All services and support systems are being quickly added to MonmouthResoureNet. org to help residents access Mon mouth County’s resources. Monmouth County Fr e ehold e r D e put y (Needs - See Page 7)
April 25, 2020
School Budget Remains “A Work In Progress”
By Bob Vosseller HOWELL - School Board members were hoping to adopt a tentative school budget next month but that remains to be seen as the spending plan remains “a work in progress” between now and when it will come up for a vote. Last month the board introduced its $123.1 million tentative budget to fund its operations. A May 6 public hearing was planned for it. The budget is expected to see some changes right up to that public hearing date. School Board President Mark Bonjavanni said that while the board approved the tentative budget, “That word ‘tentative’ has never been truer than today.” Members of the board’s financial committee will still have to conduct some “virtual” meetings to continue its work on the spending plan beyond its introduction. “This is needed between now and then to develop our final budget. The budget is actually a work in progress,” Bonjavanni said. “Presently, the budget does not call for any cuts. We are looking at a $2.3 tax levy which is a bit of a decrease because our ratables in town have gone up. We did notice our state aid did go down. It was $28 million and something down this year which is down from what we were expecting from the S-2 cuts,” Bonjavanni said. The S-2 cuts come from a state plan to redirect aid from districts that were losing students and considered to have more money than other districts. Howell’s school district will see its state aid continue to drop during the current school year. Last year it received $32.63 million in state aid. The school district will get $30.98 million for 2019-20 which is a loss of $1.65 million. Currently, this year’s proposed budget totals will be supported by the collection of $79.9 million in taxes from residential and commercial property owners. The tax rate is expected to drop from $1.132 per $100 of assessed valuation in 2018 to $1.101 per $100. (Budget - See Page 6)
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