The bus drivers of the UFRSD
We are writing in response to the Feb. 10 article about the Upper Freehold Regional School District budget (“Upper Freehold must close $1.7M budget deficit”). Once again the school board is in the position of trying to pass a budget with decreased state funding and without going over the cap mandated by the state. Once again it is coming to the bus drivers for a portion of the money.
We are the bus drivers of the district and we would like to enlighten the taxpayers of the township of our concessions made last year. Being forced with cutbacks last year we were notified that there was a possibility we would lose our jobs to outsourcing. As a group we came up with several ways to reduce our budget. By condensing our bus runs, not taking a raise for the entire year, cutting one driver and GIVING BACK 9.8 percent of our salary toward our health benefits we were able to cut $200,000.
There are 15 drivers employed by the district our total salaries for this year are $397,657 minus our give-back of $38,970. Our total payroll is $358,687, our benefit package averages $11,787 per driver. Our savings last year were put into the general fund and not even used for transportation. The top three paid administrators in the district have a salary of $ 446,034 (obtained from Datauniverse.com).
Collectively we have more than 237 years with the district; your top administrators have nine between the three of them. There are seven drivers who reside and pay taxes in the township; eight of us have graduated from Allentown High School and 12 of us have had our children educated within the district.
As taxpayers we are not happy with the excessive property taxes but understand that the district needs to make cuts, but not always at our expense. We are the only employees of the district to make these concessions; everyone else received their raises this year and are still not paying toward their health benefits, and they are also guaranteed a 2.95 percent raise in the 2011-2012 budget with still no contribution toward benefits.
We as a group are willing to forgo another year’s raise and contribute toward our benefits as we have been, to save our jobs. We are not part of a union and can take these steps. If we are outsourced this year we wonder where the rest of the budget shortfall will come from. We also ask where the money from subscription busing went; should that not be taken into consideration when calculating the transportation budget? Will those parents who pay now be asked to pay more or pay for unreliable busing? We all believe it is time to start cutting where there is excess not at the expense of the lowest-paid personnel in the district.
Selling the buses will be a one-time fix. Is outsourcing the buses really a way to save money in the long run? Don’t be fooled by enticing figures for the first few years. We invite anyone with concrete evidence that proves this is way to continually save money to please present it to the transportation department. The district did attempt to use contracted buses in the past one run went through five different drivers in one year. One of our ways to save money last year was to bring back into the district some of our outsourced runs because they were too costly. Isn’t this a contradiction to their plans?
We understand that the teachers have been asked to reopen their 2011-2012 contracts in hopes of saving teaching positions; it was a benefit to us last year to renegotiate our contact and save all but one of our jobs. We know that times are hard and hopefully everyone can help by giving in a little bit.
We are all professional, trained bus drivers. We are the ones who trained the students on bus evacuation procedures, safety issues on and around the bus, bullying and any personal issues they feel comfortable talking to us about. Many of us have driven the same students for several years and they have developed a trust with us.
We appreciate all of the support we received last year from the taxpayers, parents and township and borough officials, and hope that everyone will come to the board meetings again this year and support us again.
Mary Perry, Teresa Nixon, Pat De Pinto
Nancy Lamb, Robert Baggitt, Sue Cheeseman
Cheryl Correa, Cindy Custer, Carol Poppe
Dean Allen, Debbie Gilbert, Roger Hance
Joyce Horner, Leslie Calderoni, Robert Driver
The bus drivers of the Upper Freehold
Regional School District

