Town of Braintree

Figures on School Raises

$300,000 out of this year's over $34,000,000 School Department budget to fund the 1% school raises. Then that $300,000 plus an additional $600,000 (and change) will be needed to fund the next year school teacher's raises and the FinCom chairman has said Braintree doesn't have that kind of money without an override or severe cutbacks in services not just within the school budget, but townwide. Then year 3 with a 3% increase will cost nearly $1.2 million more tax dollars and the final year, FY08,a 4% increase will cost $1.5 million dollars. The School Committee has come to agreement with their professionals and support staff personnel over an unprecedented 4 year budget period earmarking nearly $3,900,000 in salary increases for Braintree school personnel. That's brand new taxpayer dollars folks that has been consented to between teacher's union and school committee. $3.9mil and not a penny for our police, fire, water/sewer, clerical, managers, library workers who haven't been factored into this atrocity. Not that anyone doesn't deserve a wage increase, but if schools personnel increase of 1% equates to about $300,000 and for all others, another $250,000, you do the math. We are into funding somehow our town workers in ALL DEPARTMENTS, not just schools nearly $6,000,000 through FY08. If $650,000 equates to $1 on our tax rate, we can see our taxes rise $10 for raises alone over next four years? A 4% fourth year raise is an insult to every taxpayer in Braintree and is unheard of in this day and age.
Feathers will surely fly in the not too distant future here in Braintree all over again. No override, Braintree taxpayers are screwed!

By Beanie

hi tho

yes, other bargaining units in town have this perk; have both perks, step-raises and longevity increases. step-raises are received for each new year of employment and are usually accompanied by increased vacation and sick time accruels. i do not know what the teacher's rate of increase is, but clerks usually receive on average a 3% increase per year. now tho, do you consider that a raise in pay? i do. after a set number of steps are received i believe longevity comes into play and a set dollar amount of increase is given to that employee. so you see, braintree's (all munincipalities) payroll is increasing considerably yearly before raises garnered through new contract negotiations. i am not saying our employees do not deserve their salary structure; but i do think it is time to look at the number of workers in our employ. we are a town of 34k citizens, should our $8m dollar budget be alloted primarily for wages?

thank you for the info

very educational.to your question i wonder also.it would seem that in spite
of the financial discrepancy the unions and the fincom push forward.

By THO

another thought

is it accurate or just to tell citizens that they have infact given the teachers, or any recipient of a recently negotiated raise, solely the percentage acquired for the newly negotiated contract, or would it be fairer and more fractual to tell the citizens the actual percentage of increase in the employees wages for the current year? To say teachers are getting l% this year is deceiving, isn't it? For in fact, the town is granting them l% additional for this contract but ? % for past negotiated terms. i know there are those who think an override would solve all our problems but, overrides are a quick fix for a particular unchangable situation, a situation with a definate dollar amount and whose parameters won't change. if we are giving raises to the tune of approximately 6% per year, we would need to override our budget every year, wouldn't we?