Ongoing negotiations for two unions representing Calvert County Public Schools employees continue to plod along with a previously agreed on pact with administrators serving as the template for the deal teacher and support staff negotiators are seeking. Another factor is likely to be recent salary raises given to teachers in several nearby jurisdictions.
The recently ratified contract for the Calvert Association of Supervisors and Administrators (CASA) included incentives, including a plan allowing those employees to “cash-in unused sick-leave, wellness activities, compensation for training and telecommuting opportunities.
According to Joseph T. Sella, the chief negotiator for the Calvert Education Association (CEA) and the Calvert Association of Educational Support Staff (CAESS), a disclosure he claims was made during a recent bargaining session has prompted a request to be made to the school superintendent’s office for information.
In an e-mail sent to Calvert Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jack Smith, Sella stated the chief negotiator for the Calvert County Board of Education (BOE), Deputy Superintendent Robin Welsh, disclosed the CASA package was being funded by money “remaining in the budget” because the administrators “had not resolved their negotiations from the prior year.”
Sella’s missive to Smith includes nine separate requests for budgetary information, some dating back 10 years, in order to determine the fund’s origins.
Sella said Wednesday that the former CCPS finance officer, Gordon Smith, has indicated he had no knowledge that the unused money existed. Smith has been working as consultant with CEA and CAESS officials.
Sella has requested Smith provide the budget information to union officials within the next 30 days.
The stalled CEA and CAESS negotiations come as the Calvert County Commissioners prepares to finalize the fiscal year (FY) 2013 operating budget. The proposed budget is $4.5 million short of the amount of county funding the BOE requested in its spending plan. The public record on the FY 2013 budget is being kept open until the close of business Monday, June 4. The commissioners could vote on the budget the following day. The proposed FY 2013 county operating budget totals $224.9 million, which is $7.1 million less than the current fiscal year’s budget. It includes no tax increases and no pay raises for employees. At the recent budget hearing, county finance officials noted a 4 percent drop in property tax revenue projections for FY 2013. Calvert has not raised its property tax rate i
