Funds from the agreement will go toward assisting the financial needs of Holmdel schools relative to the board's 2025-2026 budget.
Sara Winick, Patch Staff
HOLMDEL, NJ — Holmdel Township and the Holmdel Board of Education (BOE) entered into a $600,000 shared services agreement after the Township Committee unanimously approved it during a meeting on Monday night.
The agreement will provide the board with one-time funding of $600,000 and will be payable through equal installments to the board’s maintenance fund on Aug. 1 and Nov. 1, according to the agreement listed on the agenda.
Funding from the agreement will go toward supporting students, staff and community members of Holmdel schools, as well as continuing the district’s courtesy busing and ensuring that Holmdel recreational groups have continued access to district facilities.
“On behalf of the Holmdel Board of Education, I want to thank the Township Committee for their financial contribution of $600,000 towards our schools,” Board Vice President Alison LoPresti said at Monday’s meeting. “We sincerely hope this marks the beginning of a more collaborative effort to invest in the future of our students and schools, which is one of the six pillars of our community.”
“Strong schools mean a strong and successful Holmdel,” LoPresti continued. “We’ve been transparent in that there are both short- and long-term financial challenges ahead, but we will get through them like we always do. We look forward to continued dialogue and greater collaboration to ensure the long-term success of our schools and strength of our community.”
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Board of Education President Christian DiMare and Superintendent Scott Cascone were also in attendance at Monday night’s meeting and thanked the committee for their contribution to Holmdel schools.
According to DiMare and Cascone, the board and administration have been compiling 15 years of historical data that they’ve been sharing with the community and plan to continue sharing so residents know how the district has been operating and what financial challenges they're facing.
By entering into this shared services agreement, the board hopes to further ensure the safety and services of Holmdel students, staff and community members.
“This is how I envision Holmdel,” DiMare said. “With community leaders stepping up to the plate, listening to each other and strategizing on how we can collaborate to move this town forward — and that’s exactly what happened here.”
Though the Township Committee approved the motion to enter into a shared services agreement with the board, some residents took to the floor to voice their concerns about how the agreement was presented.
Instead of being listed as a separate item on the meeting agenda, the agreement was included in the meeting's consent agenda, which typically holds routine meeting items like approval of previous meeting minutes and bills payable.
“You have a consent agenda item for $600,000 for the BOE,” Ron Emma said. “The consent agenda is for staples, printers, garbage cans — why is a $600,000 item on a consent agenda? It should be up for public discussion.”
Other meeting attendees agreed with Emma’s point throughout the night, with some residents citing previous times where an expensive item was included in the consent agenda rather than listed as a separate item.
One resident, Jay Yanello, proposed the committee come up with a number or limit for items that can be put on the consent agenda so they can have an established criteria going forward.
In response to residents’ concerns, Mayor Brian Foster said Yanello proposed an “excellent idea” and that Committeeman DJ Luccarelli also suggested reaching a number where items will not be on the consent agenda.
Following the first round of public comment, the committee introduced and passed a motion to remove the shared services agreement from the consent agenda, making it an individual meeting item instead.
To see the full recording of Monday night’s meeting, you can click here.
To see the full meeting agenda, you can click here.