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Tag: Paula Hartman

  • Board votes 2-1 for minimum salaries

    WINNSBORO – It’s rare when a major school budget measure passes by a 2-1 vote, but that’s exactly what happened at a recent board meeting.

    On June 5, the Fairfield County Board of Trustees voted 2-1 on a motion directing Superintendent Dr. J.R. Green to develop options in which no district employee makes less than $20,000 per year.

    Trustees Annie McDaniel and Paula Hartman voted for the motion that McDaniel introduced. Board Chairman William Frick voted against, and the remaining trustees abstained.

    Trustee Carl Jackson said the vote happened so quickly, he didn’t realized what had happened until it was too late.

    Jackson said he wasn’t opposed to McDaniel’s motion, but also expressed concern about micromanaging the superintendent.

    “I’m a little disillusioned here. We as a board can say to the superintendent what we want him to do with that salary range,” Jackson said. “I don’t have a problem with that. Let him bring what he’s going to bring and we’ll deal with it. Let the superintendent do his job.”

    Following the vote and further discussion, the board also adopted third and final reading of the 2018-2019 budget by a 6-1 vote, with Hartman opposing.

    Included in the $41.27 million budget are step increases and a 2 percent, across the board salary bump for all employees.

    At second reading, board members also voted to increase the annual band supplement by $10,000, as well as $1,500 increases for the boys’ and girls’ basketball coaches. Those supplements remained in the final version.

    The band stipend will be disbursed among all individuals who work in the band program, Green said.

    There is no tax increase in the budget, with millage remaining constant at 203.1 mills.

    Green, though, hinted that a millage increase might be required if the board enacted a measure to increase every employees’ salaries to at least $20,000.

    “I will bring back what you want me to bring back, even if it means a millage increase,” he said.

    The salary debate was a continuation of a heated discussion that first arose during the May board meeting.

    McDaniel, who is running for the House District 41 seat, pressed fellow school board members for details concerning unclassified worker salaries.

    Specifically, she wanted to know what an annual salary would be for various hourly employees, cafeteria workers in particular.

    Green said it was too difficult to provide an exact number, saying it depends on how many hours worked. McDaniel kept pressing.

    “I’m not understanding why it’s heartburn to have the conversation,” McDaniel said.

    Kevin Robinson, the district’s finance director, said school cafeteria worker salaries and can’t be easily annualized because they work varying numbers of hours.

    “Food service workers do not all work the same number of hours per day because it’s based on that school,” Robinson said. “All of the annual salaries are going to be different for the food service workers based on the fact they do work a different number of hours.”

    Green added some cafeteria workers work during the summer while others don’t.

    “There’s a variation there as well,” he said.

    As was the case at second reading, frustration eventually entered into the budget discussions.

    “You can’t pick one salary and say that’s not a fair salary,” Frick said. “That’s the issue I had last time. I’m seeing you trying to make a point.”

    “We need to look at this and if this is what we want it to be,” McDaniel snapped back. “Come on, $13,000 to $14,000 a year? That is not a livable salary.”

    Hartman, who supported McDaniel in voting against the budget at second reading, voiced some of the same concerns.

    “The richer get richer and the poorer gets poorer,” she said.

    $5.4 million deficit expected

    In related budget matters, the board also approved a tax anticipation note (TAN) not to exceed $5.4 million.

    A TAN is a short-term loan to help the district cover temporary budget shortfalls until sufficient tax revenues become available in January 2019.

    According to board documents, a shortfall is expected to begin on or about Sept. 22 and continue through late January 2019. The total projected shortfall amount is $5,346,850.

    The loan’s interest rate was not stated.

    Board Chairman William Frick, a longtime critic of the board’s habit of issuing millions of dollars of TANS each year, voiced frustration over needing to vote for the note.

    “Is there going to be a year where I’m not going to have to vote on one of these things?” Frick asked. “I understand the reasoning behind this, but I would like to see a day when I don’t have to vote on this.”

    The board signed a $5 million TAN in 2017, district documents state.

    Tax bills are due Jan. 15, 2019, which is when the district anticipates receiving the needed tax revenues sufficient to cover expenses.

    Related: School budget talks heat up,

  • FCSD Board spars over employee salaries

    WINNSBORO – Next year’s proposed budget includes pay raises for all school district employees, but some Fairfield County Board of Education members want to spend more.

    The board held a lively discussion Tuesday evening before unanimously passing first reading on the $41.2 million budget.

    Among the most vocal was board member Annie McDaniel, who took issue with comparatively high supplements she says some coaches are paid versus salaries of classified employees, such as cafeteria workers and bus drivers.

    “Before we give another supplement, we need to look at it on the table what we’re paying classified people,” McDaniel said. “It was sad looking at the supplements compared to what we were paying employees who work 180 or 190 days a year.”

    The proposed $41.2 million budget is about $2.5 million higher than the one approved last year. Millage would remain at 203.1 mills. Fairfield County Schools hasn’t raised millage since 2010, said Kevin Robinson, the district’s finance director.

    Robinson said the district is anticipating an increase in non-residential property tax revenue. Because of that, the draft budget recommends step increases as well as a 2 percent across the board raise for all employees.

    District Superintendent Dr. J.R. Green said there’s been talk at the state level about budgeting higher pay for educators, but nothing definite.

    “We recognize the state probably won’t mandate 2 percent and they probably won’t mandate the classified employees,” Green said. “We’re doing 2 percent across the board to make salary increases effective for all employees.”

    While board members were happy to increase pay, some took issue with implementing a percentage increase, saying it disproportionately favors higher paying employees.

    “When you’re looking at 2 percent on $20,000 versus 2 percent on $110,000, that’s a big difference,” McDaniel said.

    Board member Paula Hartman agreed.

    “We should do straight amounts. That’s more fair to me,” Hartman said. “The people working in the cafeterias and cleaning up don’t make as much so they don’t get as much.”

    Green said he favored raises by percentages.

    “To suggest we use a specific number instead of a percentage doesn’t seem to be very realistic, in my opinion,” he said.

    Robinson said the budget also includes $325,000 for five new school resource officers, which works to about $65,000 per officer. Green said the funding covers the officers’ salaries and benefits, while Fairfield County would cover vehicle, equipment and training costs.

    “We wanted to have enough money to cover the additional cost of five officers,” Green said.

    Gov. Henry McMaster has said he wants to invest millions of dollars statewide on SROs, a request that comes in the wake of recent school shootings elsewhere in the country, but no bills have been passed.

    “As much as people have talked about that at the state level, the funding of resource officers have filtered down to the local level,” Green said. “It doesn’t look like the state will be providing any money.”

    Board members also reopened debate on an old topic – a 2010 law that allows students in the Mitford community of northeast Fairfield County to attend Chester County schools at Fairfield County school district’s expense. The proposed budget for 2018-2019 estimates student transfer costs at $626,436, a nearly $75,000 increase over this year, according to Fairfield County School District budget figures.

    Some board members said they want more accountability of the money it sends to Chester County. Others want an attorney to take a second look at the Chester ruling.

    “I don’t think they intended for it to go on and on forever,” McDaniel said. “We need to look at that, we’re sending a lot of money over there.”