Buena and Buena Vista Township voters approved their school budget Tuesday for the first time since 2001.

In contrast with past years, the vote to approve the budget wasn't even close, with more than 60 percent backing a budget that called for a massive tax rate dip in Buena and a more moderate one in Buena Vista Township.

“It's no mystery,” Buena Regional school Superintendent Diane DeGiacomo said. “There was a tax decrease.”

School officials were able to propose a budget with a tax rate that was almost cut in half in Buena. Thanks to a reassessment of property values that increased the total property value in the borough by $146.5 million, school officials maintained revenues while slashing the tax rate from last year's $2.43 per $100 of assessed value to under $1.40 this year, according to school Business Administrator Tom Kearney.

In Buena Vista Township, the tax rate dropped from $2.75 to $2.72 per $100 of assessed valuation, Kearney said.

The regional school district also benefited from a boost in state aid of more than $1 million. That was significant because local voters have turned down every budget since 2002, when the state froze aid to schools.

“We received $1.2 million in additional aid, and that certainly helped us,” DeGiacomo said. “I've said that year after year. If the state hadn't frozen our aid, we could've stabilized our taxes.”

The school district also benefited from a $400,000 surplus from last year. A good chunk of that came from preventative maintenance jobs that still need to be done, however, such as an upgrade of the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system at one of the schools.

School officials hope to get a similar boost from a tax reassessment next year, as Buena Vista Township officials are considering one. While it's recognized that these would be one-time tax aids, school officials welcome it nonetheless in this financially struggling school district.

Buena will stop discharging treated wastewater into Deep Run as part of an agreement struck Friday that clears the way for some major developments in the area.

The New Jersey Pinelands Commission approved the deal Friday, setting in motion the Buena Municipal Utilities Authority's eventual construction of a new wastewater facility, where the water would be released onto land.

Buena Vista Township has agreed to restrict 232 acres of scattered township land from future development. The Buena MUA will look to create a way to reuse treated wastewater, according to the commission.

Deep Run flows east to the Great Egg Harbor River and eventually the Great Egg Harbor Bay.

“This agreement contains specific milestones that will eliminate all discharge of treated wastewater into the Deep Run by 2014, which will reduce pollution in the Deep Run, the Great Egg Harbor River and ultimately the Great Egg Harbor Bay,��� said John Stokes, the Pinelands Commission's director. “Other measures included in this agreement will reduce development in sensitive areas, thereby strengthening the protection of important natural resources.���

In exchange, the commission cleared the way for a new regional middle school to be built in Buena Vista Township, with the school tied into the MUA's wastewater system.

The school project has been delayed since it was approved two years ago, as has a potential development of about 70 age-restricted homes in Buena Vista.

Both Buena and Buena Vista send their students to the regional district.

“It's a big day for the communities out here,��� Buena Vista Mayor Chuck Chiarello said. “It's not going to lead to vast new territories of growth, like in Hamilton, Galloway or Egg Harbor Township, but it will help with some growth to make these towns financially stable.���

The agreement culminates a dispute that's stretched for more than a decade. Pinelands regulations have prohibited such discharge into Deep Run since 1995. Two years ago, the dispute ratcheted up after the Pinelands Commission refused to allow the school to be built until the Buena MUA complied with the law.

ATLANTIC CITY — Looking for ways to get around performing civil unions appeared to be the plan of some mayors attending a seminar on the issue at Thursday's conference of New Jersey mayors.

If any mayors in the state commonly conduct wedding services for their municipalities, they also must perform civil unions, said Susan Bass Levin, the state's commissioner of community affairs and a speaker at the seminar, after being asked by a mayor if they must perform civil unions.

“What if I'm out of town? What if I'm not around?” asked Nicholas Langella, mayor of Rockleigh in Bergen County.

“You cannot discriminate,” Levin said while smirking. “If you are legitimately out of town, fine. But you have to make yourself available to both, not just one.”

Judging by the applause throughout the morning, many mayors in the nearly packed ballroom at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort were against performing civil unions.

“I personally enjoy doing marriages, but civil unions are a step in the wrong direction for the kind of values we need to establish,” said Cape May Point Mayor Malcolm Fraser, another panelist for the seminar. “I regretfully stopped performing marriages all together,” he said.

But proponents were on hand, as well. Mayor Peter Voros, of Pittsgrove Township, stood up during Fraser's address and sharply asked, “Mr. Fraser, when you were sworn into office, did you swear to uphold state law?”

“Yes,” Fraser responded, “and by bowing out, I am.”

But Lambertville Mayor David DelVecchio criticized the state Legislature for allowing mayors to have “an out.”

“They shouldn't have given us an option. We should all conduct them,” he said. “We need to be conscious of our actions and conscious of our inaction. We're mayors, and we follow the law.”

Civil unions were signed into state law in December, but many mayors and other municipal officials have fought against their mandated responsibility to perform civil unions if they also conduct weddings.

Along with questions and a whole lot of comments, Levin interacted with the mayors using a civil union version of the game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” Levin asked officials questions about the process and its history, while answers were shouted out from the crowd. The seminar was one of several scheduled for the two-day conference, which ends today.

Chuck Chiarello, mayor of Buena Vista Township, said he has battled his conscience before when officiating at marriages, believing that some of the marriages he performed were based solely on one person gaining citizenship.

“Now I think: What does it matter what I think? It's not my right to have an opinion one way or the other,” Chiarello said. “I think we should all grow up a little and start moving forward.”

MAYS LANDING — Two men charged with the stabbing death of a Buena man told a judge Wednesday at their first court appearance here that they will hire their own attorneys.

Nick Esquilin and Elvin Torres are charged with murder and weapons offenses in the March 22 killing of Raymond Campos, a 26-year-old father of four. Daniel Esquilin, 21, of Newtonville, Nick Esquilin's cousin, also is charged with murder. He will make his initial appearance in court today after being transported from a jail in Pennsylvania. All three men were arrested at a South Philadelphia bar a day after the crime.

In addition to murder, Nick Esquilin, 25, of Newtonville, also is charged with aggravated assault in connection with the stabbing of a passenger in Campos' car, Larry Spellman, 24, of Mays Landing. Spellman was hospitalized for the injuries.

Esquilin, a slender man who stood beside his co-defendant, told the judge he will hire a private attorney.

When Superior Court Judge Albert Garofolo asked Torres, 24, of Margate, if he had an attorney, the man said, “My family is working on that.”

Both men are in the Atlantic County jail on $750,000 bail. Daniel Esquilin's bail is the same, Chief Assistant Prosecutor Jill Horenberger said Wednesday.

It is alleged that Thomas Esquilin, 40, of Buena Vista Township, another Esquilin relative, allegedly chased after Campos' car. Both vehicles stopped at a Jackson Avenue intersection in Newtonville, where Spellman and then Campos got out of their car. A third car pulled up with the murder suspects in it. Authorities say Torres and the Esquilin cousins then stabbed Campos and Spellman. Campos died at the scene. Spellman was treated at the hospital.

During the melee, Thomas Esquilin's sister Juanita Esquilin, 50, of Buena Vista Township, was allegedly struck by her brother's car when he tried to get away, authorities said. The woman was hospitalized. Her brother remains at the Atlantic County jail, charged with assault by auto and driving under the influence.