Tag: raises for everyone

School Board Meets Tonight

According to the June 5th Radiogram, the LISD board will meet tonight. Among other things, they will discuss:

“…adjustment to the compensation schedule for 2021-22. Also discussed will be the planning for federal grand applications, plans for a safe return to in person instruction.”

I THINK Rhonda Witcher meant “grant” applications and “in-person” instruction, but what do you expect from a former college professor?

“Adjustment” to the compensation schedule ALWAYS means “adjustment upwards”. Not a year goes by that the school system doesn’t give raises to everyone and anyone – including the bloated administration. Of course, school performance continues downward despite all the spending (see my post HERE).

Let’s look at the other recent “adjustments” to the compensation schedule, shall we?

April 2018: The Lampasas Independent School District Board of Trustees unanimously approved a general pay increase for all the district’s teachers, administrators and auxiliary staff. Each teacher will receive a $1,500 increase, a raise of about 3% will go to administrators, and an increase of about 5% will be given to aides, clerical and auxiliary staff. The pay raise will add about $800,000 to the budget.

July 2019: The Lampasas Independent School District Board of Trustees approved teacher raises totaling $1.5 million for the coming school year.

March 2020: Our school board approved a compensation plan for next year that includes a 7% general pay increase of the midpoint for teachers, clerical/aides, and auxiliary. A general pay increase of 5% of the midpoint for administrators was approved as well.

January 2021: The Lampasas Independent School District Board of Trustees voted Monday night to extend Superintendent Dr. Chane Rascoe’s contract, which now is set to expire in June 2024. Trustees also granted Rascoe a 7% raise, bringing his salary to $169,864 as of July 1. In addition, trustees voted to give all school district employees an additional 10 days of paid leave for “COVID-19- related issues”

Ah yes, those “COVID-19-related issues”. Not Covid, mind you….but any “issues” that “relate” to it as well.

That’s two weeks of vacation for any bullshit you can come up with – like “I think my kid has Covid” or “my husband may have Covid and I have to take care of him”. If there is a single employee of the school system who DIDN’T grab some “Covid” time this past school year, I’d sure love to meet them.

I know our intrepid City council member Cathy Kuehne took HER time off, even though she felt fine!

Ah yes. Pork chops and panko – such a deadly plague.

Anyways, AFTER the school board gives everyone and their assistant a fat raise, they will move on to “plans for a safe return to in-person learning”.

Say what? What plans are there to make? Here is how you do it: pretend it is the year 2019 again and do what you did back then. I’m not sure if the school board reads the news, but The Fauci Emails are putting the nails into the coffin of Covid as we speak.

Of course, anyone with a brain knew that masking kids was moronic a year ago. But NOW you have overwhelming evidence AND anyone who wants the untested and experimental fluids injected into their arms should have done so by now.

There is ZERO excuse not to get rid of ALL the Covid bullshit. Masks, Lysol, Plexiglas, bus fumigation, water fountains covered with trash bags – you name it. Get rid of it ALL.

Will the school board be wise enough to do that? I’d put my money on “no”. But we shall see tonight.

The Same City Crying Poor and Begging For Federal Money Also Recommends $250,000 In Raises For City Employees

You gotta love government ‘logic’.

One week, Mandy Walsh (salary + benefits of over $100,000 per year) is getting City council to vote unanimously to submit an application for the LEDC stating that the City was SO ‘economically injured’ by Wuhan Flu that they need almost $1 million in free money to waste on their pet boondoggle (the ill-fated ‘business’ park).

The NEXT week, City Manager Finley deGraffenreid (salary + benefits of roughly $180,000) has the balls to stand up and tell City council he recommends they use the “budget surplus” (his exact words at the 30:25 mark) to give everyone in City government a 3% raise. Which would “be a burden to the City of about $195,000“, according to him. [*** see below***]

He also says that we need some other “market adjustments” (Finley-speak for more raises) of around $50,000 for other employees. Bringing the total to very close to a quarter of a million dollars ($245,000).

Remember – that $250,000 is forever. They don’t take it back next year. It is a brand new, forever-more burden on the taxpayers.

Here’s a thought for City council to ponder:

If the ‘business’ park project is SO awesome and SO important and will result in many new high-paying jobs and so much ‘economic development’, wouldn’t it make FAR more sense to take that $250,000 raise and instead funnel it towards your precious ‘business’ park project? In a short four years, you have your million dollars!

Why are you INSTEAD giving raises to City employees who are ALREADY well-paid? City employees who HAD ABSOLUTE and COMPLETE job security during a ‘pandemic’ that has thrown tens of millions of private sector workers onto the unemployment rolls!

Oh – and who ALSO have top-notch health care plans (those pesky benefits!) in case they DO catch the Wuhan Flu!

Wouldn’t that make a LOT more sense? Yes. Yes it would.

*** Some super hard math for the likes of TJ Monroe ***

*** This implies a current City payroll of $6,500,000.00 since 195,000/0.03 = $6.5 million.

*** Finley has also stated in the past that benefits [retirement + health insurance + other] run roughly FORTY PERCENT of salaries. So the NEW total burden to the taxpayer just for City employee salaries and benefits would be roughly $9.443 million dollars every year

$6.5 million x 1.03 for the new 3% increase PLUS $50,000 = $6,745,000

$6,745,000 x 1.40 = $9,443,000 total salary + benefits burden for new budget

If I am very generous and assume the current number of City employees is 110, that gives us a salary + benefits burden to the taxpayer of $85,845 PER EMPLOYEE.

Yes – you are reading that correctly. Each and every City employee is costing YOU the taxpayer (on average) approximately $85,845 in salary and benefits. I’m guessing that over 90% of people in this town make far LESS than that in their private sector job.