Commissioners delay school budget vote

The St. Mary’s County Commissioners have delayed a vote on the school board’s Fiscal year 2014 budget after a majority expressed concern about not having enough time to review the information. On a 3-2 vote, the budget decision, which has to be made by July 1, was postponed until next Tuesday’s commissioners’ meeting.

The St. Mary’s County Board of Education last Wednesday formally signed agreements with their three bargaining units. See Bay Net story http://www.thebaynet.com/news/index.cfm/fa/viewstory/story_ID/32505  on the agreements. The synopsis of those agreements was then emailed to the county commissioners. Commissioners Daniel Morris, Cynthia Jones and Todd Morgan were critical of the timing of the release of the information just prior to their decision making meeting. Morris was out of town and Jones had computer problems. Both said they had just seen the information.

School Superintendent Dr. Michael Martirano defended the timing, saying they had met all of the agreed to deadlines. But Morris said, “There has to be a way to make this a little more timely.

Commissioner Lawrence Jarboe (R: 3^rd) said the commissioners had decided before finalizing their budget to give the schools four percent more in FY ’14 and the schools complied with that so the commissioners should approve the budget.

 Martirano explained that all of the additional monies from the county went to funding employee salary agreements. He said there was a concern about the county competitively falling behind neighboring counties, particularly for principal salaries. He said this year Calvert ranked 4^th, Charles 6^th and St. Mary’s 17^th in minimum pay for principals. Maximum pay ranks Calvert 6^th, Charles 7^th and St. Mary’s 14^th. With the first agreement with the new bargaining unit for administrators and supervisors, Martirano said St. Mary’s will likely fall between Calvert and Charles counties’ pay scales for principals.

Morgan praised the school board for recognizing the need to improve principal salaries by reducing the disparity with neighboring counties. But he was concerned that he and the other commissioner had not had enough time to review the information.

Deputy Superintendent of School and Operations Brad Clements, the system’s lead negotiator with the bargaining units, explained the negotiations with the new St. Mary’s Association of Supervisors an