Borrowed Time and One-Time Funds: Kicking the Can on Next Year's Budget
Hardyston's 2025-26 school budget relies on a one-time $276K SHIF fund to stay afloat-leaving next year's board to face the fallout, while Finance Chair Tony Alfano plans his exit.
If Tuesday night’s Board of Education meeting had a theme, it was this: short-term applause, long-term headaches.
The board smiled its way through this year’s budget vote, but the math told a different story. The plan leans on a $276,000 stopgap from the Schools Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) - a one-time patch that won’t be there next year.
Let’s say it plainly: this year’s budget balances on a gimmick. When SHIF cash dries up, the district faces a hole big enough to force cuts, program reductions, or a tax jump.
So why not take a modest increase now and soften next year’s blow? Because that requires political courage, and this board chose political comfort.
Enter Tony Alfano: The Finance Chair With an Escape Plan
Tony Alfano, who chairs the Finance Committee and championed this budget, seemed satisfied with the outcome. And perhaps it’s easier to be at peace with a shaky budget when you’re already planning your exit.
Alfano is currently running for Town Council. If elected, he’ll be gone before the fiscal mess lands. As one resident put it after the meeting, “It’s easy to kick the can when you’re not the one picking it up.”
The irony? During the meeting, Alfano praised the budget as a win-win. But what kind of win saddles next year’s students, teachers, and taxpayers with impossible choices?
We Deserve Better Than Budget Theater
A responsible budget requires foresight, not fanfare. It means facing hard choices now, not punting them to whoever sits in these seats next year.
And yes, making unpopular decisions can be hard. But that’s the job. Especially if you’re the one steering the ship.
The reality is: next year, the SHIF money will be gone. The bills will come due. And unless the board takes real corrective action, the district may be forced into choices that hurt classrooms, not just spreadsheets.
Because when the music stops, and there’s no chair left to sit in - Tony won’t be in the room.