Berkeley Heights Final School Budget Rises Slightly as Health Benefits Drive Last-Minute Changes

Berkeley Heights’ final adopted ’26-’27 is a little higher than the preliminary we reviewed and has some narrow changes that were predictable based on the most recent communication from the BA to NJ21st and BOE Meeting that followed.

The final budget shows a +~500k increase from April’s budget to a total of ~62.3M; that increase shows up on the operating end with a tax levy increase to 2.98% from 2%; total of ~$49M.

The main reason is connected to health benefits, which rose a little over $500K from preliminary to final. A slight offset shows up on maintenance, which dipped by ~48K.

The final budget also changes how the District gets to its levy; no healthcare adjustment in the prelim and a ~$228K adjustment in the adopted with ~$241K banked cap used.

The areas we’ve highlighted (much needed reductions in security, Admin and athletics from the prior adopted) have remained in place.

Worth mentioning/ending on a positive note – we obtained the final budget without having to submit an OPRA request.

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