CAPE MAY – Cape May is attempting to shift a local taxpayer burden to the federal budget.
Due to a quirk in federal reimbursement rules, the city, part of the Lower Cape May Regional School District (LCMR), pays to educate Coast Guard base children at LCMR without relief from the Coast Guard.
The city sends about 60 students to LCMR, almost half of which are military-connected resident students. The nature of the state formula for the consolidated school district sets funding based on property values.
Even though Cape May students represent only 5% of the LCMR enrollment, the funding formula has the city contributing 34% of the district’s tax levy.
What makes the problem worse is the fact that once military-connected students leave the city’s elementary school, Cape May can no longer qualify for federal education impact aid, transferring all of the expense for the military family students to the city’s taxpayers.
At its Oct. 19 meeting, Cape May City Council passed a resolution petitioning the members of the federal congressional delegation representing the city “to incorporate within the annual federal budget a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) to the City of Cape May for the per-pupil costs of military-connected resident students attending LCMR.”
The approach of seeking a federal PILOT to help offset the high-cost burden on city taxpayers, recommended by the city’s Municipal Taxation and Revenue Advisory Committee, is one solution to the school funding controversy that has not previously been attempted.
