Cavanna and a township clerk's office spokeswoman said that members of the council and board of education came to an agreement on a revised budget in a special meeting May 17.
Details of the new spending plan, other than there were $2.5 million in cuts made, were not available as of press time. The budget, when first put before registered voters April 20, called for a 7.3 percent increase and the laying off of 84 school employees.
"The township council approved the budget (May 17)," said Cavanna. "As soon as the clerk drafts a resolution, we can send the tax levy to the superintendent."
The school board, said Cavanna, is to memorialize the new budget as soon as its May 25 meeting.
The new tax levy amount, explained New Jersey State School Boards Association spokesman Frank Belluscio, is to be handed in to county superintendent Lawrence Feinsod's office before 4 p.m. May 19 - past Local Talk deadline.
"It's state law that all governing bodies have to send their school tax levies into their county superintendents' offices May 19," said Belluscio from the NJSSBA's Trenton headquarters. "There should be no problem unless the governing body and the school board fail to agree on a spending plan."
West Orange, Nutley, Irvington, Glen Ridge, Bloomfield and Belleville were six of 584 public school districts who put their Fiscal Year 2011 budgets before municipal voters April 19. West Orange and, initially, Nutley were among the 59 school districts - or 315 statewide - whose voters rejected their first plans.
Nutley's budget was eventually approved after all provisional votes were counted before May 4. That township's plan, which was initially defeated by eight machine votes, was carried by four ballots.
West Orange voters' rejection came after a contentious campaign which saw opposing Web sites and an anti-budget rally held in front of Town Hall April 18.
"I've been here in eight months but I'm a veteran now," said Cavanna. "It was an unusual circumstance - we were hit by two cuts. Gov. Christie, in his budget message, slashed 15 percent of our state aid nor $703,000 of additional aid; then the town suffered a 38 percent decrease in property value after its recent revaluation."
Municipal tax levies are tied to the average assessed property value of a home - or roughly one quarter of the same home's real estate market value.
The turning down meant that council and school board members had to convene a joint meeting to either trim or keep the budget.
Cavanna, who came from superintending the Fort Lee schools, said that he had never been through a rejected budget revision process before.
"The governing body has the option to appeal to the New Jersey Commissioner of Education," said Belluscio. "Those appeals are rare - except we've an extraordinary number of defeated budgets this year."
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