Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Budget Line Items topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee presses staff on athletics pay, phone stipends and substitute lines in budget review
Summary
Committee members questioned staff about an apparent athletics pay increase, the addition of an annual cell‑phone stipend for licensed staff, and why substitute pay lines show zeros; staff said amounts were reallocated across fund lines and confirmed substitutes remain funded.
During review of the proposed 2025–26 budget, committee members pressed staff for clarification on several line items. The Chair asked why an athletics salary line "went from 18,000 up to 183," noting the document appeared to separate or reclassify items previously consolidated. Staff responded that the athletics amounts were adjusted and that some items were split across multiple funding sources.
On phone stipends, a committee member asked why stipend amounts were not shown individually; staff explained that pay and stipends are split proportionally across funding sources according to how salaries are funded. "We did sign, through negotiations for licensed staff to have a 1 time, cell phone stipend paid to them, annually," staff said, describing the new annual stipend for licensed employees.
Committee members also pointed out that page 3 of the packet showed prior substitute allocations (noted in the packet as $55,000 and $20,000 for a site listed as Coquille Valley Elementary) now appearing as zeros. Staff said substitutes remain budgeted but those amounts were redistributed across other lines in the budget and may not appear on the same individual line items as in prior years.
The committee reached no separate decision on these line‑item questions at the meeting; staff indicated the items had been adjusted in the working budget document that committee members reviewed. The committee then moved on and voted to adopt the overall budget and tax rate.
