Support Staff Deal Would Cut School Budget

When the School Board voted to recommend five articles on the district's six-article draft ballot Tuesday night, it did something a little out of the ordinary: It approved a collective bargaining agreement that will reduce the operating budget.

A deal struck during negotiations with the school support staff this year allowed the School Board to recommend a three-year agreement that, if passed during the town's annual meeting, would reduce the school district operating budget by $181,401.

Matt Shevenell, the school district's business administrator, told the Merrimack School Board on Tuesday night that the agreement brokered with the Merrimack Educational Support Staff Association gives the staff members a 2.75 percent pay increase each year for the next three years but MESSA agreed to what Shevenell called “a major health care concession” in return.

The concession, he said, is similar to the what teachers union agreed to last year.

“I think it's a real win-win,” Shevenell said.

MESSA agreed to take on an insurance plan that will cost more out of pocket for the employee, but is less money for the school district, Shevenell said.

The prescription plan, doctors office visits and ER visits all increase in price under the plan, Shevenell said, but a relatively healthy person with low prescription needs would spend less on medical costs during the year. Conversely, the plan could end up costing an employee more if they have a relatively unhealthy year. Shevenell said the plan continues to provide different tiers of service for employees to choose from.

The savings to the district would start at at least $181,401 in 2012-13, Shevenell said. In 2013-14, the savings would be $160,384 and in 2014-15 it would be a $16,193 savings. (See charts below to see actual health care savings versus wage increases.)

School Board member Jennifer Thornton, who represented the school board while bargaining with MESSA said negotiations went very smoothly.

“In the long run, I think this is going to be much better for everyone,” Thornton said.

Board member Shannon Barnes, who was also part of negotiations, said the school district would not come out ahead if it didn't support the agreement. The the employees get more in their pockets and the health insurance is still available to them at a lesser cost to the district, she said.

She agreed with Thornton on the ease of negotiations.

“It was all vetted out in a very open and constructive way,” Barnes said.

The board voted to recommend the article on this year's ballot.

The remaining articles on the draft ballot include:

• Article 1: To elect necessary officers for the school year.
• Article 2: To authorize the school board to accept property gifted to the district without further action from the voters during the fiscal year.
• Article 4: To authorize the School Board to call one special meeting to address the collective bargaining agreement in Article 3 should it fail.
• Article 5: To raise $110,000 to reconstruct and expand the parking lot at Reeds Ferry Elementary School. The actual new cost to the voters through this article would be $45,000 as $65,000 would come from the Merrimack School District Pavement Reconstruction Capital Reserve Fund.
• Article 6: To raise $65,505,395 for the operating budget. This does not include the expense of Article 5 or the decrease in Article 3. Should the budget fail, the default budget is set at $65,676,553, approximately $171,000 more than the School Board's proposed operating budget.

The school board recommended articles 2-6.

The Budget Committee, which also weighs in on the articles still has a handful of meetings to go this season and therefore has not made any recommendations yet.

The only other article to garner significant discussion Tuesday night was Article 5, which Thornton said she could not support and voted against recommending.

Thornton said she does not believe the plan in place to create additional parking at Reeds Ferry is going to fix the significant traffic issues that exist at the school and therefore she said she didn't think it was worth the money.

Her counterparts on the board, however, said they thought it was a significant start and board Chairwoman Jody Vaillancourt called it a huge improvement.

Vaillancourt agreed that it may not solve all of the issues, but there are discussions being held by Reeds Ferry administration to change the traffic flow in the parking lot. More space is the place to start, she said.

Superintendent Marge Chiafery also weighed in on the subject saying that more space to park has long been a request and if anything is going to change with the traffic pattern more space is a necessity.

“I think this goes in the right direction and we need to be about doing something,” Chiafery said.

In the end, Barnes, Vaillancourt and George Markwell voted to recommend the article, while Thorniton opposed. School Board Vice Chairman Chris Ortega was excused from the meeting.

Below are the charts outlining the wage increases and insurance decreases as described in Article 3.

Fiscal Year 2012-13

FY 2013 Salaries and Benefits Without Proposed Agreement

FY 2013 Salaries and Benefits With Proposed Agreement

Net Increase/ (Decrease)

$6,335,136

$6,538,011

$202,875

$4,680,192

$4,288,916

($391,276)

$11,015,328

$10,826,826

($181,401)

Fiscal Year 2013-14

FY 2014 Salaries and Benefits Without Proposed Agreement

FY 2014 Salaries and Benefits With Proposed Agreement

Net Increase/ (Decrease)

$6,335,136

$6,747,382

$412,426

$5,003,125

$4,430,495

$11,338,261

$11,177,877

($160,384)

Fiscal Year 2014-15

FY 2015 Salaries and Benefits Without Proposed Agreement

FY 2015 Salaries and Benefits With Proposed Agreement

Net Increase/ (Decrease)

$6,335,136

$6,963,459

$628,323

$5,269,9525

$4,625,437

$11,605,088

$11,588,895

($16,193)