Rutherford County officials cut previous 1.5% pay raise plans for school district employees and bus contractors because of revenue concerns this week.
"We've all been hearing about the revenue shortfall that the state is experiencing since the pandemic started," said County Commissioner Wayne Blair, a former Board of Education member who called for the motion to cut the pay raise plans Tuesday during a Health & Education Committee meeting. "We don’t know how much money we’re going to have. We don’t know how badly the pandemic hurt our sales tax collections. We won’t know for at least another month."
The commission's Budget, Finance & Investment Committee also approved a school board budget without the 1.5% increase to the pay tables Wednesday for a district with 5,011 employees and 286 bus contractors. The employee pay tables, however, do provide increases based on years of service and education level.
"We’re just in such uncharted waters here," said Commissioner Rhonda Allen, who serves on both committees and is the chairwoman of health & education. "It’s difficult in any budget year to try to predict what the future is going to bring. But this year in particular, we just have to proceed with caution."
Eliminating the raise plan will save nearly $4.3 million for the next fiscal budget year that starts July 1. The adjusted budget of over $421.6 million will still provide funding to add 77 full-time equivalent employees and seven bus contractors to serve a district expecting to add 1,100 students, said Doug Bodary, assistant superintendent of budget and finance for the system.
County Mayor Bill Ketron has also decided against recommending a 1% increase to the pay tables for government workers. He's recommending the county add 31 positions and cut four existing jobs for a total net increase of 27.
Teacher accepts cut to pay raise plan
Blackman High English teacher Geneva Cook said she understands why county officials decided to hold off on raising the pay tables.
"It’s disappointing of course, but it is understandable in these circumstances," said Cook, who's also the president-elect of the Rutherford County Teachers Association. "So many people have lost jobs and businesses have closed, so I think it’s better to be cautious."
Cook said the most important priority is for the county is to retain positions, so people can "keep their jobs."
School board member Jeff Jordan agreed.
"We can’t promise money or budget money that we don’t know we’re going to have," said Jordan, adding that any additional budget cuts could be damaging to the district.
Budget adds 2 portable classrooms
The school board initially sought a 2% pay raise for employees and 5% increase for the bus contractors. This plan was reduced to 1.5% to help the board pay for an increase in health insurance premiums, Bodary said.
The board's pay raise plans are based on matching what the state will provide for teachers. Bodary, however, said he's doubtful Gov. Bill Lee and the Tennessee General Assembly will agree to fund the state's initial pay raise plans because of declining revenues.
The recommended budget by commissioners is nearly a 1.3% increase to the commission's appropriation a year ago of $416.3 million to fund 49 schools serving over 48,000 students. The fast-growing district also depends on 153 portable classrooms.
The committees also endorsed the school board's capital projects maintenance budget of $7.5 million. This budget also includes spending $102,554 on two portables, Commissioner Allen said.
"Even though the coronavirus has affected the potential revenue, it hasn’t stopped our growth," Allen said. "The projections are we’re going to grow again by at least 1,000 students. So the burden of caring for the growing student population is still there."
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Reach Scott Broden at sbroden@dnj.com or 615-260-0523, and on Twitter @ScottBroden.
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