MAHONING COUNTY School workers agree not to seek pay raises

The district is facing a deficit next year.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- All employees of the financially struggling school district have agreed not to seek an increase in pay next year, Superintendent Stan Watson says.
On Monday, the school board approved an agreement stating that about 235 secretaries, janitors, bus drivers and other employees represented by the Ohio Association of Public School Employees won't seek pay increases. It was the last group of employees to agree not to seek additional raises, Watson said.
Teachers, administrators and nonunion employees have previously agreed not to seek to increase their pay scale.
District employees will still get pay raises based on increases in seniority or in level of education, Watson said. In the past, and like in many school districts, employees have typically received raises in addition to the raises for longevity or increases in level of education.
The school board has a contract with OAPSE that required the union to negotiate with school officials to determine their salaries this year, which is the last year of the three-year contract.
Sacrifices
Bonnie Grantz, president of OAPSE Local 194, which represents the Austintown employees, said the union wanted to show the community it was willing to make sacrifices when the district was facing financial difficulties.
Barbara Kliner, schools treasurer, has said without additional revenue, the district is slated to have a $1.6 million deficit at the end of next fiscal year because of increases in costs and decreases in state funding and some tax revenue.
"The school system is in [difficult] financial straits, from what" school officials say, Grantz said.
She added that the union also agreed not to seek an increase in the pay scale "out of concern for our jobs."
Union members were worried that if they asked to increase the pay scale while the district faced financial problems, the school board would lay them off, Grantz said.
Watson has recommended that the school board ask voters to approve a tax levy in November in an effort to raise revenue. A five-year, 5.9-mill tax levy that would have raised $3 million annually for the district was rejected by about 2,800 votes in November 2003.
School officials have yet to discuss the size or length of a levy for this November.
hill@vindy.com