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Saugerties Times - Featured News | 11/12/2009 |
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Pay Raise
School Board approves contract with administrators |
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by Heather Plonchak
The Saugerties Board of Education ratified a three-year contract with the Saugerties Administrative and Supervisory Personnel Association Tuesday night, November 10, ending a year and a half of negotiations. The contract, effective retroactively on July 1, 2008, provides for salary increases for administrative personnel -- principals and the like, not teachers -- throughout the district. Over the three-year period covered, administrators will receive a retroactive 3.5 percent salary increase for the 2008-2009 school year, a 3 percent increase for the current school year, and a 2.5 percent increase during the 2010-2011 school year.
The resolution ratifying the contract passed with seven board members voting in favor, two opposed. Steven Haun explained his dissent.
"I can't in good conscience support a pay raise for diminishing graduation rates and diminishing revenue from the state," he said. "Also, in consideration that at the end of the year, if these revenues are not realized, we are looking at 85 percent of our budget being personnel salaries and benefits. It would be unfortunate to give a raise and then have to tell somebody that they don't have a job, or to tell students that programs can no longer be financed. I find that personally troubling. The potential is there and I would be willing to bet that it will be realized."
Those trustees who voted to approve the contract defended the increases on the grounds they were necessary to keep Saugerties on par with neighboring districts, for fairness and competition's sake.
"This is a relatively small increase," said Tom Ham, who participated on the negotiating team. "In reaching this agreement, there are a number of things we looked at. One is the rate of pay of the surrounding areas; we have to keep the salary competitive to keep the talent here."
Theresa Bach-Tucker also sat on the negotiating team, and noted that within the Saugerties school district, there are several administrators whose salaries are less than that of teachers who have been employed for a similar length of time -- proof the administrators need a bump.
Haun disagreed, explaining that the median rate of pay for a teacher in the district is approximately $66,000 per year, while administrators make an average of approximately $90,000. He said budget lines for salaries continue to rise, while lines for textbooks and classroom supplies receive yearly cuts.
Richard Petramale, who also dissented, asked trustees to consider the current state of the economy.
"In these economic times, the only place I really hear of pay increases is when I come onto school property," said Petramale. "When I leave the school property, there's no one out there talking about pay increases, especially at the rate of pay that we get for being in the school district as an employee. I'm not saying they don't deserve it but, we've got to look at the whole picture. We are giving out raises when we're not even sure we have enough money in the budget to make it to the end of the year."
Following the lengthy discussion, the board ratified the contract, with trustees Ham, Bach-Tucker, George Heidcamp, Charles Schirmer, James Steinhilber, Mark Thompson, and E. Duane Taylor voting in favor and trustees Haun and Petramale opposed.
AUDIT REPORT
Victor Churchill of Sickler, Torchia, Allen & Churchill presented the annual audit report to the board. He said the district should change the way it makes purchases to simplify the accounting process. Purchase orders should be used whenever possible, rather than credit vouchers, because their impact is immediately shown. Credit vouchers are recorded differently, showing available funds in the budget even after purchases are made. Churchill also recommended that transfers between budget lines be made on a regular basis, perhaps quarterly, to keep the district's budget in line with actual spending.
District business manager Allen Olsen said he's working to correct this, with the new practices reflected in the monthly treasurer's report. Bach-Tucker questioned Olsen on the report, which seemed to show the district has overspent by $1.9 million just four months into the budget cycle.
Olsen explained that these figures can be attributed to more frequent use of purchase orders in areas where credit vouchers were often used, as well as necessary budget line transfers. According to Olsen, who was not involved in the creation of the current budget, Donald Gottlieb, of Ulster County BOCES has reviewed the budget, and projects that the district may end the fiscal year with a surplus of up to $500,000 -- that is, if the state does not follow through with a proposed plan to withdraw $1.1 million in aid.
DISTRICT SPENDS TOO LITTLE?
During the public comment portion of the meeting, former Saugerties teacher William Hayes chastised the board for spending too little money on students in the district. With its $52 million budget, the Saugerties Central School district spends $16,899 per student, the lowest per pupil of all Ulster County school districts, though the average household income in the region is the third highest in the state, said Hayes, who blamed the district's current financial concerns on the historic tendency of the school board to avoid necessary budget increases.
"I don't think you can easily fix this problem because it's been going on as long as I've been here," said Hayes. "I came here in 1965 and we've been cutting and cutting and cutting and cutting, and we've never built up enough in the good times to be able to take it away now. What you take away now, you're going to find hundreds of kids in study halls. What are you going to do with these kids if you cut out their programs?"
The next meeting of the School Board will be Tuesday, December 8 at 7 p.m. at Morse Elementary School. A meet and greet with members of the board will precede the meeting.
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© 2010 Ulster Publishing, Inc.
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