Herricks salary cuts on table?

Richard Tedesco

Herricks school administrators may be willing to consider salary concessions to ease the impending budgetary crunch, according to Herricks School Board President Christine Turner.

Turner said at last week’s board meeting that she had recently met with Karen Hughes, head of the Herricks Association of Administrators and Supervisors, and reported encouraging results from that meeting.

“As we move forward in the budgetary process, [HAAS] have said they are willing to work with us,” Turner said.

Turner indicated that the school board had received no such signal from the Herricks teachers association, and talks with the administrators are at a very preliminary stage.

Turner also made it clear that the board is already tightening its financial belt, anticipating the difficulty it will face in drafting a budget in light of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed 2 percent cap on local tax levies statewide, and rising costs.

To avoid the attendant cost of layoffs, Turner said the school board is trying to keep down personnel costs.

“We’re basically undergoing a job freeze,” Turner said.

In response to a question from one resident about eliminating overtime pay, Herricks Superintendent of Schools John Bierwirth said the school district is incurring overtime costs “on a much more restricted basis” to conserve funds.

“We’re not doing overtime unless we have to,” Bierwirth said.

Bierwirth said that the board is concurrently working on two budget plans – one that would maintain the current level of programs and services in the district, and another assuming the 2 percent tax cap, which would require $6.5 million in cuts from the budget.

“There would be an 8 percent increase in the budget if we maintained programs and services,” he said.

After the meeting, Bierwirth said that the $6.5 million budget cut the district may face would mean “dozens” of teaching positions are eliminated.

During the meeting, resident Jim Gounaris suggested the board should attempt to open a dialogue with the district’s school teachers.

“Some conversation is better than no conversation,” said Gounaris, who added that he didn’t mind the idea of spending money to pay unemployment benefits to cut salary costs. “I don’t care about paying $1 million for unemployment to save $7 million in salary.”

Bierwirth said student enrollment in the Herricks district has been stable, “stopped dead in its tracks” by the housing crisis.

When resident Joseph Heery suggested the administration focus on eliminating “middle management positions” such as guidance counselors, Bierwirth said such a move would have a direct consequence for students.

“We can take out guidance counselors, but then we wouldn’t be able to provide the same level of guidance services,” he said.

Bierwirth revealed that he and other school superintendents in the area have been working with state Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel (D-Great Neck) to come up with ways to relief the financial pressure.

“These are difficult times and everyone is struggling. We understand what $5 million in cuts means,” said Jonai Singh, co-president of the Herricks Parent-Teachers Association. “Our kids are going to be impacted no matter what.”

Addressing a recent request from the Herricks Middle School Student Council to upgrade their schools playing fields, Bierwrrth said, “There’s no way we’re going to be able to do that whole field,” adding that the district could “top-dress” the fields to fix the surfaces.

The school district had been anticipating some grant money from the state to redo the middle school baseball fields. If those grants don’t come, Bierwirth said the district has $3.2 million in unrestricted reserve funds that it could use.

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