Teachers, county employees are headed toward 6-7% raise in Maury County

Maury County Budget Committee members had their work cut out for them earlier this month with a 6% raise for county employees and a 7% bump for Maury County Public Schools staff on the line, while a room filled with Maury County teachers, administrators and officials looked on in anticipation at the budget committee meeting.

Committee members barely bumped county wages by vote of 4-3, with commissioners Tommy Wolaver, Pam Huffman and Chairwoman, Kathey Grodi dissenting.

Even with this raise, the pay study conducted by the county last fiscal year, puts MCPS in the bottom 25% among 14 other districts.

Ventura shared her concern that MCPS teachers cannot afford to live in their own county, but expressed excitement about the 7% raise that would take starting annual teacher pay from just $42,000 to $45,000.

“We’re not fully to market value yet, but definitely closer to target,” Ventura said, sharing Gov. Bill Lee’s goal to have starting teacher pay at $50,000 before the end of his term.

The pay raise for school and county employees would go into effect on June 3.

Alongside the increase, the committee approved the MCPS $144.3 million operational budget, 5-1-1, with Commissioner Tommy Wolaver dissenting and Gwynne Evans abstaining because he is a teacher with MCPS.

The full Maury County Commission will hear the school district's operational budget proposal.

The school district is moving toward a $21 million jump from last year’s budget request, a percentage increase of 16.64%, according to the school district's tally of $144, 365,768 for the 2023-24 fiscal year.

Last year’s projected budget, north of $123 million left the district with a $7 million surplus due to capital projects put on hold due to certain delays in construction materials and labor, for example.

Commissioners Gabe Howard, Ray Jeter and Danny Grooms (sitting in for Chad Brothers), who supported the raise for county employees, stressed the need to keep Maury County salaries competitive.

“In order to keep good people, we’ve got to stay competitive with other counties,” Grooms said. “Our people are our greatest asset. You can build all the million-dollar buildings you want, but if you don’t have anybody to work in them, all you have is a building.”

Grooms prefaced his comments mentioning teacher vacancies in the county school system and resignations by employees, leaving for higher pay.

Maury County Commission Chairman Eric Previti said after the meeting Tuesday he was “pleased the school board worked hard and presented us with a balanced budget and that they passed raises for the county and school employees.”

A large portion of the budget committee meeting also included an informational component in which commissioners asked finance staff many questions regarding the budgeting process, which led to moments of frustration during the meeting. However, Previti said the newly elected commissioners were "soaking it up like a sponge."

“Our budget committee had a lot of good questions and with 15 new commissioners, this year, they are learning it all and soaking it up like a sponge,” Previti said. “We all look forward to hearing the capital requests upcoming.”

Filling teacher positions still a challenge

Ventura indicated that her latest count for needed teachers is around 59 with the new Battle Creek High School, but stressed that it's a moving target, a number that changes daily.

“Will all those positions be realized?” Ventura said. “They’re budgeted.”

Maury County has a 2% growth rate that is only set to increase as thousands of new homes are built in Maury County, especially the northern part of the county, which will bring new families and children.

New positions being sought in the district include an assistant principal for Battle Creek Middle School in Spring Hill and the start of staffing for the new Battle Creek High School, set to open in fall 2024.

Lukonen said the new positions are largely the bulk of the roughly $17.5 million increase in the budget's fund balance from last year.

Financial outlook from director

Revenue side, Maury County and schools finance director Doug Lukonen expressed optimism about the overall financial picture.

“We’re still surpassing our projected numbers on sales tax, which is a good indicator of business,” Lukonen said.Business tax numbers have suffered, Lukonen said, due to a different timetable for due dates on business tax revenues.

“But you’ll see the bulk of that show up in the last quarter of the year,” Lukonen said.

Rep. Scott Cepicky, R-Culleoka, who was present at the budget committee meeting, has publicly stated that the school district will receive $17 million additional funds, following the recent restructuring of the state's funding formula for school districts, or the new Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA).

Maury County Mayor Sheila Butt weighed in at the end of the night referencing her previous campaign theme of "Team Maury," which addressed effective communication between governmental bodies for the betterment of the county.

“When I look at the teachers, principals here, we need you all to be on the team,” Butt said. “If there are problems, come to us, don’t wait until this time to say what you need.

“We want to help you and see our kids succeed … everything you’re doing is about the kids. Don’t look at us like combatants. We’re with you and the kids, and anything we can do to make that happen we want to do.We are going to expect some higher levels in our children’s learning."