NJ Com: Gov. Says Budget Won't Be Approved

According to a story posted Thursday night on NJ.com, Gov. Chris Christie's office announced that Parsippany's school budget will not be approved, despite

NJ.com quoted Michael  Drewniak, press secretary for Christie as saying, "the budget has not been approved.''

The story also stated that the budget wouldn't be approved until it met state guidelines for the $175,000 administrative salary cap for districts the size of Parsippany. 

Under the at a Thursday morning meeting, Seitz would get a base salary of $175,000 and an additional $2,500 allowed by the state for districts with a second high school.

Seitz would also receive a 15 percent merit increase, which is permitted by the state. But $16,000 would be put in a reserve fund to pay his $220,000 pending the outcome of the .

School board members said Thursday night that Christie's office had not informed them of his plans to reject the budget. 

Responding to the NJ.com story, board member Andrew Choffo called Christie "the king of New Jersey'' and said research from board attorney Mark Tabakin showed that the governor has no legal authority to deny the budget.

"The only one who has that is the county superintendent,'' he said. "Why isn't the governor working under the law instead of dictatorship or fiat?"

He said if Christie does reject the budget, "the entire town should be up in arms and march on Trenton.''

Robert Crawford, who opposes the Seitz contract, said, "We need for the department of education and the governor's office to come together and issue a clear directive on where this now stands.''

But Crawford was harshly critical of the board's decision to employ "an accounting trick'' to meet the salary cap on paper, but still honor the Seitz contract.

"If a number in the budget is not real, why should the public believe that the board is honoring the budget at all?" he asked. "It's corrupting the budget process. Why are we going through this whole thing, this charade, when we don't have to?''

Michael Strumolo, who  said he was not at the Thursday morning meeting because he was at at his towing company dealing with snow emergencies, said he supported Christie's edict on the budget.

"The governor is the chief executive of the state of New Jersey," said Strumolo, who has voted to rescind the contract. "I have been consistent in my belief that he represents the will of the people and I believe I'm carrying out the public's wishes."