Sea Bright is calling on CodeRed to get out vote
Officials opt to use emergency contact system for SRHS vote
BY SUE MORGAN
Staff Writer

SEA BRIGHT - Worries about rising school taxes, not rising waters, prompted borough officials to activate the town's CodeRed system earlier this week.

The elected leaders of this small seaside community agree that the reverse telephone calling system should only be used in the case of an actual emergency such as a flood, large fire, missing person or other potential danger.

Yet, given how successful passage of Shore Regional High School's $49.8 million bond construction referendum could financially and socially impact the borough's taxpayers, the governing body decided to call residents to get them to the polls to vote for, or against, the building plan.

With that in mind, the Borough Council at its Sept. 19 meeting authorized the use of CodeRed to call as many cell phones and land lines as possible on Monday night and Tuesday morning with the reminder to vote.

Because voters are used to going to the polls in November, not September, CodeRed was the best way to communicate with residents over a short period of time, Councilwoman Maria Fernandes pointed out.

"People always seem to forget to come out and vote," Fernandes said. "I really think we should do a [CodeRed] on this one. Tell them it's a school election."

Councilwoman Dina Long, who chairs both the education and public safety committees in town, agreed.

"I have no problem with [using CodeRed]," Long said. "It is an emergency."

Using CodeRed to notify residents about a school election, or any election for that matter, is unprecedented, according to Mayor Jo-Ann Kalaka-Adams.

If the referendum to upgrade, renovate and add onto the 44-year-old high school were to pass with a majority of voters in its four sending communities, Sea Bright property owners would take on an average district property tax of almost $188 yearly, or nearly $16 a month on a property assessed at the borough average of $383,000 according to figures released previously by Shore Regional officials.

The district's other sending communities - Monmouth Beach, Oceanport and West Long Branch - would also incur higher district tax hikes proportional to the amounts they pick up in annual district budgets.

Because Sea Bright sends the fewest students to the school and has the lowest average assessed valuation, it usually picks up the smallest proportion of the yearly budget, district officials have said.

Last year, about 21 Sea Bright students attended the high school in West Long Branch.

In this 30-year-bond referendum, Sea Bright would see the lowest tax hike of any of the four sending communities.

Nonetheless, Kalaka-Adams and the Borough Council worry that an approved referendum would cause a hardship to Sea Bright residents, especially senior citizens and tenants in rental properties.

Kalaka-Adams questioned whether or not the district can realistically expect to receive $17.5 million in debt service contingent upon passage of the referendum.

Taxpayers in the four sending towns would be picking up the balance of $32.3 million over 30 years if the projected debt service, which must be put aside by the New Jersey State Legislature each year, comes through.

While not telling taxpayers to turn down the issue, Kalaka-Adams and the other officials asked voters to be informed.

"It is going to have a significant, significant, significant impact on Sea Bright," Kalaka-Adams said. "We cannot afford to gamble. It's a $50 million gamble."

Since last year, the borough has leased the CodeRed system, via the police department, from Emergency Communications Network Inc. of Ormond Beach, Fla.