Last spring, Barnegat Township and school district officials got into a verbal kerfuffle when a sign was put up in the municipal building highlighting a proposed 6-cent (per $100 assessed value) school tax increase. In red lettering against a white backdrop, residents were told, “The school board is intending to raise ‘your’ taxes” by $150 to over $400 with its 2023 budget and were urged to attend a public hearing at the high school.

Eventually, the board of education reduced the proposed increase to 4 cents.