School employees get bonuses

Employees throughout Sweetwater County School District No. 2 will receive a surprise Friday.

The school board approved a series of one time stipends to employees during their meeting Tuesday night, which will be paid out Friday. The stipends were approved as a budget amendment to the 2018-2019 budget, which expires at the end of June.

According to board documents, the total cost of the stipend is $928,000 and are based off of 4 percent of the overall salary total within an employee group.

Teachers will receive $2,400 Friday, while hourly employees will receive 65 cents per hour for the employee’s annual hours worked. Technology stipends are valued at $2,326 and supervisors will receive $3,196. Administrators are divided into three categories, with the 10-month administrator stipend set at $3,926, the 11-month administrator stipend set at $4,318 and the 12-month administrator stipend at $4,770.

“We’re not going to give back money to the state, we’re giving it to our employees,” board member Steve Core said.

The rule Core spoke about requires school districts to return funding to the state if their reserves are valued at more than 15 percent of their total operating budget. Overall, the board approved a budget amendment increasing appropriations in the district’s general fund by $345,645.

That increase is the result of projected revenue increases in the general fund, consisting of an increase in one-time revenue by $216,995 and additional revenue over budget amounting to $128,650.

Other budget amendments approved by the school board include increases to the staff development, speech and nursing budgets. According to board documents, those additions were made possible through repurposing 2018-2019 personnel savings, unused salary and benefits contingency and special education expenses based on a recent quarterly review.