All staff agree to pay freeze, Board cuts $600K
All Madison-Plains employees have agreed to a voluntary pay freeze on their base salaries, a move to help the cash-strapped district save money as it heads to the polls next week.
Both bargaining units recently voted to forgo a negotiated pay increase for the 2018-19 school year. The administrative team will follow suit.
The Board of Education approved the agreements on May 1.
“This is a big concession,” Board President Mark Mason said. “We are facing a fiscal crisis and our staff members are performing this act on behalf of Madison-Plains students.”
The pay freeze will go into effect regardless of the election’s outcome on Tuesday, May 8, Mason said. The teachers’ union also agreed to give up its tuition reimbursement fund for the upcoming school year, a $50,000 surrender.
The Board approved about $600,000 in additional spending reductions during the meeting. The cost-savings measures are a combination of the loss of personnel due to attrition and a cut to non-teaching staff and services. The Board is also decreasing contributions to student fees and activities.
Negotiations with the Madison-Plains Education Association and the local chapter of Ohio Association of Public School Employees will begin again in April 2019.
As part of the District budget balancing plan the Board has placed a 1.25 percent earned income tax ballot measure on the May 8 ballot. If approved the new revenue would keep the district solvent until 2022-23. An earned income tax will diversify the district’s tax base and will not be collected on the following:
-
Retirement income
- Social Security
- Unemployment benefits
- Disability and survivor benefits
- Welfare benefits
- Child support
- Interest, dividends and capital gain
Posted: Tuesday, May 1, 2018