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Mar. 24, 2011
As part of an effort to address a pending budgetary crisis facing the Garrett County Board of Education, all employees of the board who will be eligible to retire at the end of the current fiscal year – from teachers to administrators to non-certified staff members – received a letter this past week from superintendent Wendell Teets and union representative Steve Benson offering the employees a cash incentive to retire.
A similar voluntary retirement incentive plan was subsequently offered by the Garrett County commissioners to all county employees, most of whom received their letters yesterday.
“The board [of education] is faced with making some very difficult decisions for next year, including a possible reduction in force, resulting in loss of employment and the elimination of educational programs that are vital to our students,” the letter from Teets and Benson said in part.
The board of education employees who have at least 30 years of service in the Garrett County system are being offered a one-time cash payment of 15% of their current salary if they retire this year, up to a maximum of $10,000. Any employee age 55 with at least 25 years of service, and those who are age 62 with at least five consecutive years of service within the local system are eligible to participate in the incentive plan.
The percentage of salary offered decreases by .5% with each year fewer than 30, so an employee with 25 years of service is being offered 12.5% of his/her salary. Those with five years of continuous service and eligible to retire because of age would receive an incentive bonus of 2.5% of their current salary.
The plan will be presented to the Garrett County Board of Education at its April meeting, but only if a minimum of 15 certified employees and three non-certified employees agree to participate. Employees have until Wednesday, April 13, to render their decisions.
If the program is enacted by the board, then the decisions of the employees would be binding. If it is not approved by the board, then an employee agreeing to participate would not be obligated to retire.
The offer by the county commissioners to county employees is similar; however, the incentive percentage increases for those employees with more than 30 years of service.
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