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Guest 15
Joined: Mon, Nov 22 2010, 8:14 am EST
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 Posted: Mon, Nov 22 2010, 8:20 am EST Post subject: Re: CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget |
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| What percent of their salaries (if any) do the district employees contribute towards their benefits (healthcare and pensions)? The article states that healthcare costs are expected to rise 14% next year. As an employee of a major healthcare company, I have been asked to contribute towards my healthcare benefit, with my cost rising from 0% to 3% of my salary over the last 6 years. Given that wages, and benefits are almost 50% of the budget, I think it only logical to look here for ways to lower costs. Ask the employees to contribute towards healthcare [u]and [/u] retirement benefits, look at lower cost healthcare options (I do not know what the copays, deductibles, etc are), and what will the raises be in the next contract (what were they on an annual basis over the last 3-5 years?) |
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Guest
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| Posted: Mon, Nov 22 2010, 9:02 am EST Post subject: Re: CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget |
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| Guest 15 wrote: | | What percent of their salaries (if any) do the district employees contribute towards their benefits (healthcare and pensions)? The article states that healthcare costs are expected to rise 14% next year. As an employee of a major healthcare company, I have been asked to contribute towards my healthcare benefit, with my cost rising from 0% to 3% of my salary over the last 6 years. Given that wages, and benefits are almost 50% of the budget, I think it only logical to look here for ways to lower costs. Ask the employees to contribute towards healthcare and retirement benefits, look at lower cost healthcare options (I do not know what the copays, deductibles, etc are), and what will the raises be in the next contract (what were they on an annual basis over the last 3-5 years?) |
The majority of school employees have a collective bargaining agreement in place making a request simply that. I do believe they contribute, but not sure of the %. It would be easier without a union contract because they could say we want to do this and it is done. |
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Guest 15
Joined: Mon, Nov 22 2010, 8:14 am EST
Posts: 4
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| Posted: Mon, Nov 22 2010, 9:36 am EST Post subject: Re: CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget |
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| I understand they are covered by a contract. The contract expires in June of 2011. In the new contract, I am suggesting that we insist on union contributions towards healthcare and pensions. Looking at the budget posted on the board of ed site, salaries and benefits have increased over 19% in the last 3 years. This is in spite of the fact that enrollment is down over the same 3 year period! This is over a 6% increase per year, and when adjusting for the decline in enrollment, over a 7% increase per year. |
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Guest
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| Posted: Mon, Nov 22 2010, 10:26 am EST Post subject: Re: CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget |
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| Guest wrote: | | Guest wrote: |
Does anyone know specifics about why the budget is projected to shrink? Is this a loss of state aid? Loss of ratables? Decreased assessments? Something else?
Thanks for any info. |
The town has a lot of vacant warehouse space and the continued decline in property values means that there is a lower value of property in the town. So as the property value declines the tax rate has to increase to keep level spending.
When state aid is cut (all for the school) a lot for the town and more cuts coming that means it falls on the back of the tax payer locally to make up the difference just to keep the same services going.
It's a trick for Trenton. Cut state aid to funnel money to the State budget so the state politicians look good, then blame the local towns for the increase in property taxes and say we in Trenton are trying to help. Towns like Cranbury must be inefficient and therefore need to consolidate. |
Exactly correct. Cranbury now receives $0 in state aid for the school and a token sum for the municipal budget. Yet we send substantial aid to the state from our property taxes that they in turn distribute disproportionately to larger townships. We pay the state more per household than any other Township in Middlesex county and get virtually nothing back. Then we face a double-digit reduction in tax revene due to property values and empty commercial space and the Governor caps increases and does nothing to offset the rate of taxes that he takes in from us to give to the very communities that we would allegedly be better off consolidating with.
It is a scam plain and simple. The quickly way for us to save on taxes is for the state to stop robbing us to pay for others. They can keep their money, we don't need a dime in state aid and we could see a major tax reduction if the state would simply stop stealing from us to pay for the inefficient, wasteful larger townships. |
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Guest
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| Posted: Mon, Nov 22 2010, 10:36 am EST Post subject: Re: CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget |
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| Guest 15 wrote: | | What percent of their salaries (if any) do the district employees contribute towards their benefits (healthcare and pensions)? The article states that healthcare costs are expected to rise 14% next year. As an employee of a major healthcare company, I have been asked to contribute towards my healthcare benefit, with my cost rising from 0% to 3% of my salary over the last 6 years. Given that wages, and benefits are almost 50% of the budget, I think it only logical to look here for ways to lower costs. Ask the employees to contribute towards healthcare and retirement benefits, look at lower cost healthcare options (I do not know what the copays, deductibles, etc are), and what will the raises be in the next contract (what were they on an annual basis over the last 3-5 years?) |
Wow, you're lucky it's only 3%. I work for a Fortune 500 company and the way they have handled increased health care costs, as have many of their peer companies, is to simply cap employer contributions and make employees pay for all the increases. Whereas the rule used to be 80/20, i.e. the employer pays 80% and the employee 20%, that has broken down and my cost of medical insurance is now about 40% of the premium. And that is for worse benefits. Because at the same time, in order to make the massive premium increases not look as bad, i.e. only 15-20% a year increased instead of 30-40% which is what it would really be, they reduce the quality of coverage every year. They do this by increasing the minimum deductibles, reducing the percentage of costs covered and increasing the fees for prescriptions and standard visits to primary care providers. The net result is I now have to pay almost $4,000 in premiums for my family insurance policy to get a plan that pays at most 80% of any cost after deductibles have been met. That puts my average out of pocket costs around $6-7,000 a year inclusive of the premium. And that is without any chronic medical issues or hospitalizations, etc. We would quickly be spending five-figures if we had any of that.
And that’s with a Fortune 500 company. Many people have it even worse. The age where an employee can expect virtually all of their health care costs to be covered by an employer are long gone. These unions that are clinging to this notion, both the government employee unions and the private industry unions, are asking for something that virtually no one else in the country gets. |
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Guest
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| Posted: Mon, Nov 22 2010, 5:51 pm EST Post subject: Re: CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget |
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| Guest wrote: |
Does anyone know specifics about why the budget is projected to shrink? Is this a loss of state aid? Loss of ratables? Decreased assessments? Something else?
Thanks for any info. |
Thanks to the posters who responded to my inquiry. I agree with the points you made. I am hopoing someone with specific details on the gap might post some information. For example, of the projected gap of $500,000, how much is lost state aid?
how much is shrinking budget due to re-assessments and lost ratables?
How much is due to cost increases?
Thanks in advance. |
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Guest
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| Posted: Mon, Nov 22 2010, 7:34 pm EST Post subject: Re: CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget |
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| Guest wrote: | | Guest wrote: |
Does anyone know specifics about why the budget is projected to shrink? Is this a loss of state aid? Loss of ratables? Decreased assessments? Something else?
Thanks for any info. |
Thanks to the posters who responded to my inquiry. I agree with the points you made. I am hopoing someone with specific details on the gap might post some information. For example, of the projected gap of $500,000, how much is lost state aid?
how much is shrinking budget due to re-assessments and lost ratables?
How much is due to cost increases?
Thanks in advance. |
Did you click on the link in the first post in this topic and read the full article, not just the tiny snippet that was cut-and-pasted into the post? It goes into a lot of detail about the sources of additional costs and revenue loss. It's not as comprehensive as a full spreadsheet that totals to the budget but I don't think that exists yet -- thus the purpose of the meeting to solicit ideas before the fill budget -- and if a preliminary version does I don't think it has been distributed to the public.
Some of the highlights:
-- The district is facing a 14 percent increase in health-care costs for the district’s employees, possibly as high as 17-18 percent.
-- Further reduction in tax revenue. Total assessments have dropped over 10 percent in 3 years. Revenue has dropped by $1 million this year.
-- Like this year, $0 state aid. This is a loss of $770,000 from the the 2000-2010 year.
-- State is requiring the Board to increase its pension liability from approx. $50,000 to $200,000. |
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Guest
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| Posted: Mon, Nov 22 2010, 9:40 pm EST Post subject: Re: CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget |
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Heathcare is an ongoing issue that really bugs me. We have seen and will continue to see these increases, no matter who is in Trenton or Washington.
In the long-run all chronic diseases caused by our own addiction to cheap calories and convenient food will get us into the poorhouse. Of course we live a sheltered life in Cranbury.
The whole thing is sad....but I think sooner or later school teachers will have to pay a bit more out of pocket for their health benefits. I pay somewhere around $400 per month to get the family covered, plus crazy co-pays. I know teachers don't like this, but something needs to be done. A program should be created / phased in, possibly |
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Guest
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| Posted: Mon, Nov 22 2010, 11:54 pm EST Post subject: Re: CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget |
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| Guest wrote: | | Guest wrote: | | Guest wrote: | | CRANBURY — The Board of Education will hold a public meeting in January to discuss a possible $500,000 revenue shortfall in the district. |
I am hoping someone with specific details on the gap might post some information. For example, of the projected gap of $500,000, how much is lost state aid? how much is shrinking budget due to re-assessments and lost ratables? How much is due to cost increases? Thanks in advance. |
Did you click on the link in the first post in this topic and read the full article, not just the tiny snippet that was cut-and-pasted into the post? It goes into a lot of detail about the sources of additional costs and revenue loss. It's not as comprehensive as a full spreadsheet that totals to the budget but I don't think that exists yet.... |
I read the article. It is unclear. It would be illogical to project a specific shortfall, like $500,000, without a preliminary spreadsheet. I am hoping someone will share it with the public so our feedback can be more productive.
If healthcare costs are exempt from the cap and we aren't losing any state aid (none to lose), it appears the projected gap is largely a result of decreasing tax revenue and increasing salary & benefit obligations. Am I missing something? |
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Guest
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| Posted: Mon, Nov 22 2010, 11:58 pm EST Post subject: Re: CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget |
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| Guest wrote: | | Guest wrote: | | Guest wrote: | | CRANBURY — The Board of Education will hold a public meeting in January to discuss a possible $500,000 revenue shortfall in the district. |
I am hoping someone with specific details on the gap might post some information. For example, of the projected gap of $500,000, how much is lost state aid? how much is shrinking budget due to re-assessments and lost ratables? How much is due to cost increases? Thanks in advance. |
Did you click on the link in the first post in this topic and read the full article, not just the tiny snippet that was cut-and-pasted into the post? It goes into a lot of detail about the sources of additional costs and revenue loss. It's not as comprehensive as a full spreadsheet that totals to the budget but I don't think that exists yet.... |
I read the article. It is unclear. It would be illogical to project a specific shortfall, like $500,000, without a preliminary spreadsheet. I am hoping someone will share it with the public so our feedback can be more productive.
If healthcare costs are exempt from the cap and we aren't losing any state aid (none to lose), it appears the projected gap is largely a result of decreasing tax revenue and increasing salary & benefit obligations. Am I missing something? |
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Guest
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| Posted: Tue, Nov 23 2010, 7:58 am EST Post subject: Re: CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget |
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| Guest wrote: | Heathcare is an ongoing issue that really bugs me. We have seen and will continue to see these increases, no matter who is in Trenton or Washington.
In the long-run all chronic diseases caused by our own addiction to cheap calories and convenient food will get us into the poorhouse. Of course we live a sheltered life in Cranbury.
The whole thing is sad....but I think sooner or later school teachers will have to pay a bit more out of pocket for their health benefits. I pay somewhere around $400 per month to get the family covered, plus crazy co-pays. I know teachers don't like this, but something needs to be done. A program should be created / phased in, possibly |
Health care costs and the proportion of aging people with health issues is the single biggest long term threat to our national economy and standard of living.
The single biggest issue is simply that people are living longer and that we have developed extremely expensive ways of prolonging life. That’s not a bad thing, just reality. But you're correct that it doesn't help that people are abusing themselves for years then burdening the health system with their choices. Even for those contributing to their own insurance and health care costs, all of which are inflated for all of us by the average costs to deal with such claims, a vast majority end up receiving Medicare benefits as well so no matter how you slice it we all are paying for the consequences of indulgent choices.
In a perfectly fair world things like cigarettes and junky food and food additives would be taxed at a rate equal to the cost to health care system of treating the long term consequences of the resulting conditions. It would not be just another way to tax people it would be a straight-forward way of transferring the burden for people's choices to the people who make them instead of sharing them with the rest of us. These aren't small burden's. they are costing us hundreds-of-billions a year now and could eventually reach over a trillion a year. Already the cost of treating cigarette-related health issues exceeds the cost of the War in Afghanistan every year. Obesity-related costs will exceed it.
But can you imagine the uproar? No new taxes. Unfair to the poor who have a "right" to smoke and get fat, and make us pay for the consequences. So where is my right to vacation on private yacht like my boss? Isn’t that unfair to the middle class? And when all else fails fall back on pseudo-science and conspiracy theories that claim it isn’t true that cigarettes and obesity are really causing all those health problems anyway. |
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Guest 15
Joined: Mon, Nov 22 2010, 8:14 am EST
Posts: 4
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| Posted: Tue, Nov 23 2010, 9:26 am EST Post subject: Re: CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget |
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Back to the specifics of the school budget. On the board website, from 2008 to 2010, the number of children in special ed. declined 10% (66 to 60). Over this same time frame, the cost of special ed. has increased almost $55,000 or over 7%. Can this be trimmed to reflect the decline in students?
What are the child study teams? From 2008 to 2010, the cost went from $294, 197 to $375,984, a 28% increase over a peiod that saw the number of students on roll fall from 607 to 592.
We are facing a $500,000 shortfall. If these 2 line items were held at 2008 levels, when there were more students (resulting in greater spending per student then was spent in 2008!), over 25% of the shortfall could be made up. |
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Guest
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| Posted: Tue, Nov 23 2010, 10:03 am EST Post subject: Re: CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget |
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| Guest 15 wrote: | Back to the specifics of the school budget. On the board website, from 2008 to 2010, the number of children in special ed. declined 10% (66 to 60). Over this same time frame, the cost of special ed. has increased almost $55,000 or over 7%. Can this be trimmed to reflect the decline in students?
What are the child study teams? From 2008 to 2010, the cost went from $294, 197 to $375,984, a 28% increase over a peiod that saw the number of students on roll fall from 607 to 592.
We are facing a $500,000 shortfall. If these 2 line items were held at 2008 levels, when there were more students (resulting in greater spending per student then was spent in 2008!), over 25% of the shortfall could be made up. |
I'm guessing that there are fixed costs that are not affected by the number of students served. For instance, a teacher's salary remains the same if he/she is teaching 20, 25, or 30 students. |
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Guest
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| Posted: Tue, Nov 23 2010, 11:19 am EST Post subject: Re: CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget |
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| Guest wrote: | | Guest wrote: | | What if we don't replace Mr. Haney? Wouldn't we save about $200k in salary and benefits? |
I asked a school board member that and was told that there is some State requirement that dictates his position, something about requiring two administrators or something. I am only pasisng on what I heard and have no specific knowledge of the requirement.
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According to APP web site, we have a Chief School Administrator, School Business Administrator, Assistant Principal and a Supervisor of Pupil Personnel Services- 4 positions making $460k in salary and probably costing about $625k with benefits. If we could go down by one position, we could save about $150k.
Other personnel questions...
Do we need a full time school psychologist and a school counselor and a school social worker?
Do we need 2 school nurses?
Can the library pay for the school librarian?
What is a "Resource Program In-Class"? |
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guest25
Guest
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| Posted: Tue, Nov 23 2010, 11:44 am EST Post subject: Re: CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget |
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| Guest wrote: | | Guest wrote: | | Guest wrote: | | What if we don't replace Mr. Haney? Wouldn't we save about $200k in salary and benefits? |
I asked a school board member that and was told that there is some State requirement that dictates his position, something about requiring two administrators or something. I am only pasisng on what I heard and have no specific knowledge of the requirement.
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According to APP web site, we have a Chief School Administrator, School Business Administrator, Assistant Principal and a Supervisor of Pupil Personnel Services- 4 positions making $460k in salary and probably costing about $625k with benefits. If we could go down by one position, we could save about $150k.
Other personnel questions...
Do we need a full time school psychologist and a school counselor and a school social worker?
Do we need 2 school nurses?
Can the library pay for the school librarian?
What is a "Resource Program In-Class"? |
Bravo - this is the most common sense approach I've seen on this topic - and the school board needs to have a very good reason why these cuts aren't feasible. Obviously there is more meat on the carcass - and no need to 'cut to the bone' as some have stated. Perhaps the carcass is a 'sacred cow'? |
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Guest
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| Posted: Tue, Nov 23 2010, 11:48 am EST Post subject: Re: CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget |
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| How many students live in the affordable housing in town? |
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