Can Y’town’s school system really afford pay increases?

We now know that the finan- cially strapped Youngstown City School District will shell out more than $1 million over two years to pay for the ill-advised contracts with teachers, secretaries, food service workers, custodians, plumbers, electricians and carpenters. Can the district afford the increased costs in wages and benefits while trying to forge a realistic fiscal recovery plan?

We use the word realistic because although a five-year budgetary forecast has been developed by Treasurer William Johnson, the assumptions made cannot be etched in stone. Why? Because the national economic recession has created a level of uncertainty in the workplace that demands conservative budgeting. The private sector has been tightening its belt for the past several years, but the public sector has been slow to do what’s necessary to reduce expenditures. That’s because government’s revenue mostly comes from the taxpayers, so when operating costs rise, there isn’t a sense of urgency to cut back.

And yet, public officials are well aware that the bottom could fall out at any time.

Consider this analysis of revenue projections from Treasurer Johnson:

“Though the district is fortunate to have passed 9.5 mills slated to bring 5.3 million dollars, it must still be cognizant that all other real estate collections are falling as the new revenue is being collected. If this levy is not renewed, it is very important to note that in the last fiscal year (FY13) of collecting the new revenue, half of the value or 2.65 million will be lost and the entire 5.3 million will be gone in FY14 and beyond.”

And yet, the board of education has approved new contracts with two of the three unions and is poised to put its stamp of approval on the pact with the teachers’ union. Although the details of the contract have not been made public, the me-too clauses in all the agreements suggest that the teachers will receive the same 1 percent pay raise a year that other employees are getting. The contracts are for two years.

But it doesn’t end there. The district’s operations chief has proposed an increase for administrative and other nonunion personnel, including some clerical workers.

The$1 million-plus price tag for this financial gift in the midst of the worst national economic downturn since the Great Depression prompts the question; “What are the members of the board of education thinking?”

Fiscal meltdown

And, what about the warning from the school district’s treasurer of a fiscal meltdown if the 9.5-mill levy is not renewed?

We are well aware that the employees of the school system have gone without pay raises for four years, but as tens of thousands here know, having a job in these difficult times is a blessing.

Public employees already enjoy very generous compensation packages, including retirement benefits that far surpass what the average private sector worker receives.

The pay raises being granted by the school board will put the future of the 9.5-mill levy in jeopardy.

The new contracts are a mistake.