District No. 2 finalizes contracts

The Sweetwater County School District No. 2 Board of Trustees voted to approve the 2017 contract between themselves and the district’s employees, paying a little more money to district employees.

On the employee side, the contract was met with 99 percent approval before the board finalized it Tuesday night. It creates a new base salary of $47,305 for certified staff, an increase of $100, while a vertical step of $712 and a horizontal step of $1,017 was granted to all eligible employees. For support staff, a base increase of 3 cents per hour on each employment column was approved, along with a 20-cent-per-hour step paid to all eligible employees. The contract also contains a one-time stipend of $537, which will be paid to certified staff Nov. 20. Hourly staff also qualify for a stipend, which comes in the form of a salary enhancement stipend paid at 15 cents per hour for their annual scheduled hours.

Additionally, the district will also adjust health insurance shares for employees during the 2016-2017 contract year as well. In order to keep healthcare costs the same as last year, the district agreed to cover a slight increase in the health and dental plans offered by the district.

One area that did increase for district employees was contributions to the Wyoming Retirement Pension, which rose from 2.055 percent to 2.305 percent and was done in accordance with a four-year plan to adjust contribution rates.

The plan was originally approved by the Wyoming Legislature in 2013 and will be fully phased in next year.

According to school board member Steve Core, the district did dip into its reserve accounts to attain the financial amounts covered in the contract, but said reserves remain at levels the board wants to keep them at.

“We had a little extra and it went to employees,” Core said.

Sandra Bowling, a representative of the Green River Education Association, said members were honored the district was willing to build an attractive contract offer.

“They even feel more respected now,” Bowling said.