Traverse City Record-Eagle

Grand Traverse County

March 10, 2010

Six TCAPS administrators to get pay cut

Salary reduction will save district $33,000 next year

BY LINDSAY VANHULLE

TRAVERSE CITY -- The budget cuts have begun.

Six central administrators in Traverse City Area Public Schools will receive a 5 percent reduction in total pay next year, representing about $33,000 in savings to the cash-strapped district.

School board members voted 6-0 this week to adopt the measure. Board member Alice McNally was absent.

The cuts will affect Associate Superintendent Jayne Mohr; Paul Soma, chief financial officer; Christine Davis, executive director of human resources; Jame McCall, executive director of elementary and special education; Alison Arnold, director of marketing, communications and volunteer services; and Technology Director Todd Neibauer.

A 5 percent reduction for 2010-11 will follow a 2 percent increase retroactive to this year, keeping in line with raises other employee unions received.

Longevity also will be frozen. Central administrators begin to earn additional pay at four years of service.

They do not belong to a bargaining group. Their contracts typically are discussed after union negotiations end, Superintendent James Feil said.

"We're wanting to take the lead" this year, Feil said. "We agreed that dealing with the present and what we know today is probably the best way to go."

The $33,000 in savings could come from salaries, benefits or some combination for the six employees, Davis said. This action does not apply to other non-affiliated administrators.

School board members last month voted to reduce total compensation for all employees by slightly more than $3.2 million. The cuts still have to be negotiated.

The district will cut about $6 million next year to balance a projected $8.7 million deficit.

Feil proposed a similar action in November, but board members postponed voting in part because they had not approved budget cuts for 2010-11.

His November proposal included 5 percent salary cuts in each of 2010-11 and 2011-12. The adopted measure only covers next year.

"It's consistent with the parameters that the board has suggested," Feil said.

Board members agreed.

President Marjie Rich called the cuts a "symbolic statement" for the administration, adding that they earned a 2 percent increase this year like all other staff members.

Cutting compensation "has been planned all along and was the intention all along," Rich said.

The central administrators are the last to receive a raise this year, and the first to have next year's pay cut, board member Fred Tank said.

Two central-office positions were eliminated through attrition when former Assistant Superintendent Dave Dean and Gary Derrigan, former executive director of operations, retired in recent years.

About the contracts

Six central administrators in Traverse City Area Public Schools will receive a 5 percent compensation cut in 2010-11 after accepting a retroactive 2 percent increase for 2009-10. Their most recent salaries, from 2008-09, are:

-- Alison Arnold, director of marketing, communications and volunteer services:

$75,906 base pay; $81,339.89 total compensation

Received a 39 percent raise in base salary between 2006-07 and 2007-08. A note on her contract states that it was a new position and was partially grant-funded. The grant ended after 2007-08 and her base salary increased 3 percent in 2008-09.

-- Christine Davis, executive director of human resources

$98,545 base pay; $107,421.32 total compensation

Received a 20 percent raise in base salary between 2005-06 and 2006-07. A note on her contract states that additional responsibilities were added.

-- Jame McCall, executive director of elementary and special education

$103,591 base pay; $112,896.23 total compensation

Received a 26 percent raise in base pay between 2006-07 and 2007-08 after transferring from elementary principal to central administrator. Current position is entirely reimbursed by the Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District.

-- Jayne Mohr, associate superintendent

$106,497 base pay; $117,549.24 total compensation

-- Todd Neibauer, technology director

$87,097 base pay; $94,129.28 total compensation

Received a 23 percent raise in base pay between 2006-07 and 2007-08. A note on his contract states that additional responsibilities were added.

-- Paul Soma, chief financial officer

$103,397 base pay; $110,617.80 total compensation

Source: Traverse City Area Public Schools

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