Attn Bill Hellmann, you can't complain about salaries and such when you give generous salary increases to members of the administration. We the taxpayer are also left paying Dr. Yonson's salary, whom you ran out of town. Your scare tactics are not working anymore Billy, hang it up. Oh yea...you too Marlys.
From the bcct:
Early retirement, outsourcing being considered
Early retirement, outsourcing being considered for budget
Posted: Thursday, March 3, 2011 12:00 am
By GEMA MARIA DUARTE staff writer | 0 comments
morrisville
An anticipated $2 million budget deficit in the coming school year is forcing the district to cut costs, says the school board president.
Morrisville School District is offering an early retirement plan to its teachers and considering outsourcing custodial services to cut costs.
The measures are necessary because district spending is "is out of control" due to increases in salaries, benefits and pensions, said board President Bill Hellmann.
"We need to go out to bid on custodial services in order to determine what the cost would be per the market. This will allow us to be in a better negotiating position," said Hellmann. "We have to control our costs of operating this school district. The annual employee raises, health insurance and pension increases will really hurt our town.
"We are offering an (early retirement incentive plan) to our teachers. We appreciate the work that they do but again, the cost of operating our school district is out of control. We will know how many are taking this option by March 31. The expensive pension increases approved by our state legislators back in 2001 will wind up hurting education across the state and is the same everywhere around the country," he said.
Such board action comes at a time when the district faces a deficit of more than $2 million, according to preliminary budget figures for the 2011-12 school year.
To help reduce costs, the district has taken up a financial fight with Bucks County Technical High School, accusing directors of the Bristol Township school with overcharging for its education services for the 51 Morrisville students who attend the school full time.
Officials say Morrisville's cost has increased about $400,000 for this school year and what is projected for the coming school year. As a result, the district has refused payment to the tech school until the two educational institutions figure out a cost solution.
Parent Jon Perry appreciates the officials' efforts to keep costs as low as possible for Morrisville taxpayers, but he has concerns about the proposed spending plan for the next school year.
"Looking at the preliminary budget, special education is up by almost $1 million, to nearly $4 million," he said. "This a 32 percent increase - much bigger than any other budget increase. It's five times bigger than the tech school increase. "
Perry noticed that two-thirds of the increase is not on salaries and/or benefits, it's from increased services, he said.
Hellmann said Wednesday, "The special education budget is a conservative budget based on our projected special education population."
Perry added the business office budget is up 16 percent, to almost half a million dollars.
"The new hire in the business office is an intern only at $12 per hour. The business office will also not be implementing some optional software upgrades due to budget constraints," Hellmann said,
Hellmann didn't go into detail about the business office increase, but he added "this is only a preliminary budget and we will work to get it more in line with our available revenues with a mind towards quality education also" and "what we have here is a perfect storm. Declining revenues due to a poor economy and escalating costs due mainly to labor contracts that were in place prior to this board's arrival."
Gema Maria Duarte can be reached at 215-949-4195 or gduarte@phillyBurbs.com Follow Gema on Twitter at twitter.com/deadlineduarte
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