By Tom Gilchrist
For The Advertiser
MAYVILLE — The money Mayville Community Schools must pay the state for employees’ retirement keeps rising, according to a financial consultant who addressed the Board of Education on Jan. 14.
The highest retirement rate paid to the state by Mayville schools for employees — though not all employees are at that rate — is 29.5 percent of an employee’s salary, according to Henry Hafer, paid to assist Mayville with its budget.
“Think about that?” Hafer asked board members. “Thirty percent of a person’s wages, the school district has to pick up and pay to the state of Michigan. When you combine that with Social Security, you’re (paying) well over one-third of people’s wages, just for retirement and Social Security.
“So if somebody makes $51,000, we have to pay $17,000 in retirement costs. … Then you add the other fringe benefits on top of that, and the numbers mount quickly for every staff position. Now that’s not new; it’s just that the numbers keep getting bigger.”
The board approved an amended budget presented by Hafer, who said the district has seen an unanticipated loss of $115,000 in state aid since October, a drop he called “fairly significant.” Mayville’s enrollment is about “12 students less than what we thought it was going to be when we did the October budget amendment,” Hafer said.
As Mayville receives $6,966 per student in state aid, that equates to a loss of about $83,592.
Federal aid to the district — announced after Mayville amended its budget in October — provided some additional money, according to Hafer. “The only problem is you also have to spend that money as well,” he said.
After the board approved an October budget amendment, it hired Mark Hanson as a high-school mathematics teacher following the resignation of David Eberline.
As of the January budget amendment, the district had an operating deficit of $12,789, according to Hafer, calling that “pretty close to a balanced budget.”
“The one thing we don’t know, obviously, between now and the end of the winter, is what’s going to happen with utilities, electric and fuel costs and all those sorts of things,” Hafer said.
In other action at the board’s January meeting, Mayville Elementary School Principal Kim Morden said administrators are applying for a 21st Century Community Learning Center Grant that — if received — would provide Mayville Community Schools with $405,000 annually, for five years.
If received, the money would pay for academic and enrichment activities at Mayville’s three school buildings, four days per week, after classes let out. It also would pay for snacks and a meal for students staying after school, and possibly pay for bus transportation home in the late afternoon.
“It could be something that could significantly impact our community, so we’re pretty excited about it,” Morden said.
Before Morden took her job at Mayville, she worked as a project director for a 21st Century Community Learning Center Grant in the Shelby Public Schools in Oceana County.