Sorry, but we just don’t have the money

[gorja]

Lee's article regarding the teachers wanting the Lancaster school district to consider offering another retirement incentive plan-
Sorry, but we just don’t have the money

Statement from BOE President McCay- "As a board member I feel a need to be fiscally responsible to my community and I can’t support your request.”

Statement from BOE member Zalenski - “We looked at this from every angle, even amortizing the funding. We just don’t have the money ($207,000) to do this.”

Statement from BOE member Graber- “We will be lucky to get what we got this year and we will be facing another budget crisis having to make more difficult decisions on how to balance it. It would be irresponsible for us to do this.”

Statement from new BOE member Christopher- “But in order for us to do this and pay as you go with x amount of dollars, we don’t have that money. As a teacher I am totally sympathetic to your cause, but there is no money; and I am telling you that teacher to teacher. We can’t close a school, lay off teachers and have you ask us to come up with more money. We can’t go on two to three years of making predictions when we don’t know what will happen in that timeframe. Four million in state aid was cut this past year, trust me when I say that next year will be even worse.”

It's unbelievable but I agree with everyone of the school board members, even the the one (teacher) that I didn't vote for.

[4248]

BRAVO,



"Newly elected BOE member Brenda Christopher interjected that as a teacher herself she well understood the point the teachers were making.

“But in order for us to do this and pay as you go with x amount of dollars, we don’t have that money. As a teacher I am totally sympathetic to your cause, but there is no money; and I am telling you that teacher to teacher.

We can’t close a school, lay off teachers and have you ask us to come up with more money.

We can’t go on two to three years of making predictions when we don’t know what will happen in that timeframe.

Four million in state aid was cut this past year, trust me when I say that next year will be even worse.”
_______________________________________________

BOE president Marie MacKay:

"I understand where you are coming from, that if we were to do this that it would benefit you. On the other hand, I have to think about the school district and the community and there is nothing more to put in that budget to make this happen"

"When we offered the initial incentive of $20,000, you came back and asked for more. So we gave you an additional $10,000. As a board member I feel a need to be fiscally responsible to my community and I can’t support your request.”


Enough said!

[gshowell]

Lee's article regarding the teachers wanting the Lancaster school district to consider offering another retirement incentive plan-
Sorry, but we just don’t have the money

Statement from BOE President McCay- "As a board member I feel a need to be fiscally responsible to my community and I can’t support your request.”

Statement from BOE member Zalenski - “We looked at this from every angle, even amortizing the funding. We just don’t have the money ($207,000) to do this.”

Statement from BOE member Graber- “We will be lucky to get what we got this year and we will be facing another budget crisis having to make more difficult decisions on how to balance it. It would be irresponsible for us to do this.”

Statement from new BOE member Christopher- “But in order for us to do this and pay as you go with x amount of dollars, we don’t have that money. As a teacher I am totally sympathetic to your cause, but there is no money; and I am telling you that teacher to teacher. We can’t close a school, lay off teachers and have you ask us to come up with more money. We can’t go on two to three years of making predictions when we don’t know what will happen in that timeframe. Four million in state aid was cut this past year, trust me when I say that next year will be even worse.”

It's unbelievable but I agree with everyone of the school board members, even the the one (teacher) that I didn't vote for.

You can't agree with them. Agreeing with them disproves that this is the anti-most-everything posting site.

But seriously, I agree too. The only incentive people I know in the private sector to retire is a rotten economy that forced their employers to lay them off. Some of those folks didn't plan to retire for another thirty years or so.

Teachers, teachers, I agree we should pay teachers well. But when the money ain't there, it ain't there.

You do have every right to band together with your union brothers and sisters and lobby for what you think is right.

But you can't get blood from a cadaver, you can't get money out of an empty wallet, and you can't squeeze more tax dollars out of New York State, because they spent it all on a $125,000 a day OTB supervisor.

[Lee Chowaniec]

http://www.buffalonews.com/incoming/article79231.ece

Today's Buffalo News article helps one better understand why the Lancaster Central School District told teachers near retirement why they could not afford to pay for their enrollment in Part A of the New York State Retirement System. The upcosts to the school district and ultimately to the taxpayer would have been significant.

I guess that $30,000 incentive offered by the school district paled in comparison to the hundreds of thousand of dollars that could have been realized by retiring teachers placed in Part A.

How many of you out there in the private sector are getting $30,000 incentives to retire early, get full pensions that average about $50,000 per year and Social Security benefits as well?

And on top of that you can find further employment, and sometimes back in your teaching profession.

[gorja]

Originally posted by Lee Chowaniec:
http://www.buffalonews.com/incoming/article79231.ece

Today's Buffalo News article helps one better understand why the Lancaster Central School District told teachers near retirement why they could not afford to pay for their enrollment in Part A of the New York State Retirement System. The upcosts to the school district and ultimately to the taxpayer would have been significant.

I guess that $30,000 incentive offered by the school district paled in comparison to the hundreds of thousand of dollars that could have been realized by retiring teachers placed in Part A.

How many of you out there in the private sector are getting $30,000 incentives to retire early, get full pensions that average about $50,000 per year and Social Security benefits as well?

And on top of that you can find further employment, and sometimes back in your teaching profession.

Yes, the Lancaster school board did do the right thing.

[Lee Chowaniec]

Yes, the Lancaster school board did do the right thing.

Yes they did Gorja and for further proof consider the following:

Ten teachers signed on for the school district's $30,000 early retirement incentive (55 years of age with 25 years of teaching) and where they would get full retirement benefits. The $30,000 would go into an insurance pool that would cover their insurance costs for a number of years. The ten teachers showing interest made the following in salaries and benefits:

#1 - $82,240 + $29,606 = $111,846
#2 - $74,426 + $21,584 = $96,010
#3 - $84,260 + $24,435 = $108,695
#4 - $84,845 + $21,966 = $106,451
#5 - $82,955 + $24,057 = $107,012
#6 - $82,235 + $29,605 = $111,840
#7 - $84,125 + $30,285 = $114,410
#8 - $74,561 + $19,386 = $93,947
#9 - $84,800 + $30,528 = $115,328
#10 - $82,415 + $29,669 = $112,084

Benefit amounts depend on whether the rate is with health insurance and married or single or those who do not take the health insurance - but receive a stipend for not doing so.

Had the Lancaster Central School District offered Part B to these teachers, they would have added tens of thousands of dollars to their retirement. Add, others would have entered the generus Part A offer because the the incentive would have become "enticing" - their word.

[amamo]

If you are making that much money on retirement you will not get Social Security on SS you are only allowed to bring in $2,000.00 a month single person if you make more SS will start deducting money from you SS check so you end up not getting anything much to speak of.