Schools, Taxes, And COVID-19: What 2021 Has In Store For Brick

BRICK, NJ — With the holidays behind us, Monday brings a return to school for students and teachers and for many people, a return to work. The kickoff of 2021 brings with it a number of issues from 2020, however.

The coronavirus pandemic continues to affect so many areas of life, and likely will for much of the year. Its impact will be felt locally on businesses, on schools and on the township as a whole.

Here's an update on the coronavirus numbers for Brick and a look ahead at what municipal and school district officials will be dealing with in 2021.

Coronavirus update

The number of cases and number of deaths from the coronavirus have continued to rise in Brick Township, as they have across New Jersey.

Ocean County remains in the orange "high risk" category due to the rates of transmission of the coronavirus. As of Sunday, Ocean County had 33,551 cases, up 2,659 from 30,892 on Dec. 27. Brick has 410 new cases in that time, with 4,242, up from 3,832 on Dec. 27, according to the Ocean County Health Department.

As of Sunday, there have been more than 492,000 cases of the coronavirus in New Jersey since March, including 3,676 new ones reported Sunday, according to the state Department of Health COVID-19 website. As of Saturday, 3,521 people were hospitalized due to the coronavirus, with 669 in intensive care and 462 patients on ventilators, according to the state COVID-19 website.

Deaths in Ocean County have risen from 1,057 as of Nov. 29 to 1,298, and Brick has seen an increase from 154 to 191.

Schools, funding and COVID-19

The Brick Township School District resumes the school year with hybrid instruction. The district had planned to increase the number of in-person instruction days, but a surge in the number of cases led district officials to delay that step.

"We will be examining the data and will re-evaluate after the return from winter break," the district said in a message on its website.

Getting students back in the buildings, eventually full-time, has been a hope and goal of districts across the state, and it's something Superintendent Thomas Farrell has said is his goal as well.

Farrell, who started as superintendent just days before the pandemic exploded in New Jersey, is facing his first full budget cycle in Brick, and that includes the challenges presented by S2 and its mandatory cuts to the district's state funding.

Brick was anticipating its deepest cut of the seven-year plan for S2's aid cuts to districts said to be receiving more than their fair share of school aid. S2 also mandates that districts like Brick that are not spending up to the state Department of Education's adequacy level must increase their tax levy. But that increase is capped at 2 percent, leaving the district with a gap between the aid cut and what it can raise through property taxes.

The Board of Education, which has its reorganization meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, will discuss those and other issues. At the reorganization meeting, Melissa Parker and Michael Blandina will be sworn in to three-year terms on the board.

Township update

The Brick Township Council holds its reorganization meeting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Like the school district, the township will be faced with a budget crunch, because of the effects of the coronavirus on businesses and personal finances.

That will be complicated by the pressure to limit increases in property taxes because it is an election year. The terms of Mayor John G. Ducey and three council members — Marianna Pontoriero, Paul Mummolo, and Heather deJong — end this year. Republicans will be looking to unseat Ducey and get council members elected to break the Democrats' hold on the municipal government.

The township also will be hoping the sports facility project at the former Foodtown site will get completed, along with other businesses that have been slowed in the midst of the pandemic.

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