Vito Gagliardi Quoted in Article on Manchester Regional Fair-Funding Dispute

Vito A. Gagliardi, Jr., a principal of Porzio, Bromberg & Newman, is quoted in an article in The Record, regarding the on-going court battle over how to fund the Manchester Regional High School. On Tuesday, Prospect Park filed a notice of appeal to a recent revision of a state funding formula, which was obtained by Porzio through precedent-setting litigation on behalf of its client, North Haledon.

The Commissioner of Education Chris Cerf’s Aug. 29 decision to revise the funding formula was in response to North Haledon’s position that the original, predominately based on property valuation, is an unfair equation . North Haledon's higher property values and smaller population means it pays more per student than the towns of Prospect Park and Haledon. The latest decision would save North Haledon residents over $500,000 annually in property taxes, on top of the nearly  $1,000,000 annually which has been achieved in a prior phase of the case.

Mr. Gagliardi stated the city had given consent to file a cross-appeal to the Commissioner’s decision. This cross-appeal would ask the court to consider a judgment even more favorable to North Haledon than the Commissioner’s latent decision. He further notes that the borough also would challenge Prospect Park’s request for a stay.

To read the full article, please click here.