With no action taken during Monday night’s meeting, the Carroll Community School District (CCSD) Board of Education will likely not offer a retirement incentive to qualifying staff this year. Board members discussed the plan at length at the board meeting and the previous work session, weighing the options to determine whether this would benefit the district. Superintendent Dr. Casey Berlau says it has been some time since a retirement incentive has been offered and went over the proposed plan.
Director of Business Affairs Nicole McCarville says 29 staff would be eligible to receive the incentive at the end of this year. The funding would be paid out of the management fund account, saving a bit of money in the general fund due to not needing to pay those specific staff’s salaries. Based on the average wages of the total eligible, if six staff members took the payment, expenses to the management fund would be $109,591, saving $84,361 from the general fund. To makeup for the spending, residents would see a tax increase to the management levy. McCarville projected what that tax increase would look like if expenses were raised by approximately 12 percent and with a goal of 150 percent of funds being utilized for cost.
Suggestions were offered to increase the number of years in the district from 15 to 20, offer it as a one-year plan instead of two, and limit the number of certified and classified staff who can take the incentive. Board member Jill Johnston says that with the teaching shortage being seen by districts across the country, she is nervous about offering any retirement incentive without limiting the number of certified staff that can partake.
In prior years, a retirement incentive would be used as a budget tool to save money in the general fund when first-year teachers’ pay was significantly less than veteran teachers. With the starting salary for teachers increasing to $50,000 next year and teachers with twelve plus experience to $62,000, savings would not be comparable as they were when the incentive was offered. Due to no motion, the retirement incentive was dismissed and will likely not be brought up again in future meetings unless requested by the board members or changes were made to the plan.
