School board turns down raise

MAT-SU -- After 20 years, Mat-Su School Board members continue to be reluctant to give themselves a pay hike. One member thinks he may have an answer -- hand the decision over to the public.

Every few years, the school board reconsiders its policy on stipends. While a minority usually points out that the monthly pay hasn't changed since 1982, the members inevitably vote down an increase, saying they are not comfortable giving themselves a raise.

At last week's school board meeting, board member Rob Wells suggested that the decision may be more properly handled by the people who indirectly write the checks -- taxpayers.

The perennial issue arose again at Wednesday's meeting as a policy change that would have nearly doubled the members' stipend from $275 per month to $500, with the board president receiving an additional $50 per month. The change would have aligned the board's pay with that of the Mat-Su Borough Assembly.

Once again, most board members seemed uncomfortable with the proposal.

"I agree that the compensation we're getting, at least compared to the assembly … is probably not at parity, but I'm not ready to say we should be getting as much as the assembly gets," said member Larry DeVilbiss.

Rather than entirely rejecting the plan, however, Wells said he would like to see pay raises handled by an independent citizens advisory board. He recommended the formation of a standing committee that would annually review the salaries of elected officials in the borough and school board.

"So that we as members aren't continually put into this position of having to vote ourselves a raise," Wells said. He added that the citizens' recommendations would be just that -- recommendations -- and the government bodies would have to ultimately vote on the issue, but he said he would feel more comfortable approving a pay raise for himself if it was backed by an independent group.

Wells suggested turning the matter over to the joint assembly and school board committee, which could then look at forming this type of advisory board.

The majority of his colleagues agreed, and the plan passed with the support of Wells, board president Mike Chmielewski and members DeVilbiss, Carl Gatto and Dan Contini.

Board vice president Linda Menard and member Bob Johnson voted no. Following the vote, Menard said she feels a pay raise is long overdue and that the board could have made that decision alone.

"We have the means amongst us to settle it," she said.

The monthly stipend for board members includes an average of two meetings a month, with per diem and travel expenses paid separately for approved trips out of town. Board members are also eligible for the same health insurance benefits available to non-unionized employees in the district's central office.