MCSD board approves furloughing employees — despite member’s objection
The Muscogee County School Board approved a tiered system of furlough days for employees to help balance the budget, but that decision followed a pointed debate during Monday’s night’s called meeting with one member voting against the plan.
The Ledger-Enquirer reported in July that MCSD superintendent David Lewis recommended the furloughs because the school district faced a shortfall of $16.7 million from state funding cuts in Georgia after the COVID-19 pandemic crashed the economy.
Here are the number of furlough days for each category of employees, based on the number of days they work during the fiscal year:
- No furlough days for employees who work less than 190 days.
- Five furlough days for employees who work 190-195 days.
- Six furlough days for employees who work 200-220 days.
- Seven furlough days for employees who work 240-249 days.
- Nine furlough days for the superintendent.
The furloughs would amount to a pay cut of 3% to 3.5% for the average salary, Lewis said then. When employees are furloughed, they aren’t paid but are allowed to return to work after the required time off, as opposed to layoffs, when they lose their jobs.
In solidarity with the employees, the board members decided to have their $12,000 annual salary reduced by 10% for the 2020-21 school year.
No board member spoke against the furloughs during that July work session. On Monday night, however, there was disagreement.
Before the board approved the $433 million spending plan, including $284 million in general fund expenses, vice chairwoman and District 5 representative Laurie McRae told her fellow members she would vote against the proposal.
“We need more tightening of the belt before we furlough our staff,” she said.
McRae suggested delaying the furloughs until the district knows whether it will receive more than the $10 million it received from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
Lewis isn’t optimistic any additional funding would eliminate the need for furlough days. The longer the furloughs are delayed, he said, the bigger the cut would be to paychecks because they wouldn’t be spread over the entire year.
The board already decided to not raise property taxes, so furloughs are the best alternative, said District 7 representative Cathy Williams, chairwoman of the board’s finance committee. She suggested that if MCSD does indeed receive more funding, the furloughed employees could be given their money back from the windfall.
“In the meantime,” Williams said, “I think it’s our fiduciary responsibility to pass a budget, and this was the budget that’s been worked on for the last three months.”
If furloughs weren’t approved, Lewis said, layoffs would result, noting 85% of the general fund budget is related to personnel.
McRae, the finance committee’s former chairwoman, has been the board’s most vocal stickler for warning against relying too much on the general reserve fund to balance the budget. This spending plan estimates MCSD’s general reserve fund would drop from $35 million to $23 million by June 30, the end of fiscal year 2021.
“We have to take more drastic measures than short-term fixes with the CARES Act, short-term fixes with furlough days, to really get us back to where we need to be financially,” she said.
That irked Williams.
“I don’t like to categorize our professional staff as not working hard enough or not looking hard enough for cuts or ways to spend more wisely,” she said.
McRae replied, “I didn’t blame it on anybody. I’m just saying that I personally cannot continue to pass budgets that are this far off the mark.”
This story was originally published September 2, 2020 at 3:59 PM.
CORRECTION: Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify the difference between the MCSD general and reserve funds, and also updates the board member salary cut percentage.
