Minidoka County Joint District lays out pay, insurance and budget tradeoffs for staff

Daryl, a district staff presenter for the Minidoka County Joint District, told employees that the district faces a budget gap and presented options including step increases for certified staff, an option for some classified staff to drop from 7.5 to seven hours per day in exchange for a $3.50 hourly pay increase, and a possible switch from the district's Blue Cross plan to a state insurance buy-in.

The presentation explained how state funding is tied to support units and average daily attendance and gave numerical context: the district is estimated to generate about 202.52 support units this year, the state-funded salary-based apportionment for certified and classified positions was shown as roughly $18 million, state-funded benefits about $3.8 million, transportation reimbursement about $2.2 million, and total estimated state funding about $33.5 million. Daryl said those totals leave discretionary operational funds short and that the district may need to draw roughly $500,000 from fund balance to cover this year's costs.

The district outlined two step-options for certified salaries ("one-step" and "two-step" moves) tied to the state salary schedule and noted that final placement…