Big Employee Cost Hikes At LTHS

LA GRANGE, IL – A top Lyons Township High School official is projecting big increases in salaries and benefits over the next year.

In the budget year starting in July, the school expects to spend $2.5 million more than last year on salaries, said Brian Stachacz, director of business services. That's a 5 percent increase.

"We know why that is. There were various increases to employee groups and so those are affecting the numbers we have," Stachacz told the school board this week.

For instance, the school board last spring approved 32 percent in raises over four years for teacher's aides. The school, along with many of its counterparts, has struggled to keep the aides.

Stachacz said health insurance costs are expected to go up $500,000 this year, an increase the school saw last year.

During the pandemic, he said, many people put off elective surgeries. Now, people are choosing to do the procedures as the pandemic fades away.

"That's a million dollar increase in employee benefits over a two-year span," Stachacz said. "It'll eventually level off."

The same trend, he said, was happening in other school districts.

During a discussion over construction projects next year, board members looked at the tradeoffs between priorities such as air conditioning and new roofs.

Stachacz sought to make something clear.

"I want to make the point here that the district is not in financial trouble," he said. "That is not an issue."

The national inflation rate over the last year is above 8 percent.