DANVILLE — Will District 118 employees see a raise in their salaries before the school year begins?
It will be up to a board vote on Monday.
The District 118 school board will be holding a special meeting to vote on raising salaries Monday evening for administrative staff and flat salary employee recommendations.
During the July 17 meeting, the board tabled voting on salary raises, and originally said they would likely vote on them in August.
Christopher Easton, a board member, was against voting on the raises, highlighting the district has only “46 days of cash on hand,” and remarked on the unknown cost of the storm damage to Mark Denman Elementary from storms in June. The damage resulted in a part of the gymnasium roof ending up in yards and across a section of road.
Easton raised concerns about being “fiscally irresponsible” by approving raises when the “cash reserves” are “wiped out.”
On Friday, Easton’s viewpoint has not changed much, however, he does agree the staff deserves a raise.
“I don’t think the outcome will change, though. I believe the board will likely vote to raise the salaries, mostly because… the administrators are deserving,” Easton said.
However, he is glad the board tabled the item last week, for “transparency” sake.
“I considered them [the agenda item for raises] to be controversial because of the nearly quarter-million-dollar raises, when you count the benefits and everything together, and I just didn’t think that it was the right time to be talking about raises,” Easton said. “I’m glad that it slowed down the process, so we got to have more transparency.”
Board President Darlene Halloran motioned not to vote on the matter, and said that due to that, they could not even discuss the agenda item.
Superintendent John Hart spoke out in favor of bringing raises for discussion, highlighting how the staff has brought down the district’s deficit down to $1.6 million versus around $8 million last fiscal year.
“However, what I wish, this would have been is a conversation before tonight,” Hart said. “I don’t think we’ll be bringing back administrators or flat salaried employees wearing the smiles on their faces that they should have this time of year.”
Easton says his biggest question for Monday night is “what financial status do you have to be in to stop spending money?”
Easton says if the board continues spending, they will have to vote to increase taxes, or, at worst “and even worse, in my opinion – to potentially have to vote to borrow money on an emergency basis. That’s something I definitely do not want to do. But we’re very close to needing to do that.”
So in the end, Easton says this is just going to be another hard call for the board.
“No one wants to say, ‘You can’t get a raise this year,’ or ‘We have to cut this program.’ That is not fun at all,” Easton said. “But, you know, when you run for office, you got to make difficult decisions… If we’re really doing what the community wants, we’ll have to say no to things that people want to say yes to.”
The board will meet Monday at 5:30 p.m.