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Sentinel Morning Update: Fact-finder meets with Big Spring board, teachers
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A state-appointed fact-finder met with the Big Spring school board and teachers’ union leadership on Monday for the first time.
In separate daytime sessions, negotiators from both sides relayed their positions on the remaining issues in finalizing a new labor contract – wages and benefits – to attorney Robert Gifford of State College.
“It was just an introductory meeting. It was very informal,” said Susan Benso, chief negotiator for the Big Spring Education Association.
BSEA, who requested the process go to fact-finder, wants 4.5 percent pay raises in all four years of a new deal. The union has also proposed 10 percent teacher contributions to healthcare costs over the final three years.
The board continues to hold the line at raises just above 4 percent per year. District negotiators had asked the teachers to pay 10 percent in the first year, 11 percent in the second and third years and 12 percent in the final year of the contract.
Those numbers may still be negotiable. After the last bargaining session June 5, board President Wilbur Wolf Jr. said school officials are willing to make accommodations on healthcare to get a deal done.
On Monday, the fact-finder laid out the ground rules for a formal hearing and set a date of July 15, both sides explained.
Along with the rest of this story from Sentinel reporter Jason Scott, here's what else to look for in today’s print and on-line editions:
PYMT to perform Summerfair’s musical “Clue”
It can be absolute murder to play the role of perpetual victim especially if the character is no Boddy in particular.
Matt Robinson has been working hard to perfect a killer performance as a soon-to-be-dead-guy giving hints from the grave.
“Mr. Boddy knows he’s going to be murdered, but he’s OK with it,” said Robinson, a sophomore at Messiah College. “He knows it’s part of the game so don’t be sad. I live to be killed.”
A 2007 Boiling Springs High School graduate, Robinson is an opera performance major with dreams of one day singing at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City.
For now, his focus is on trying to portray a character from a popular Parker Brothers boardgame.
“I have a surprising amount of lines after I die,” Robinson said. “I didn’t expect that at all.”
Robinson is a member of Pennsylvania Youth Music and Theatrics, a non-profit community theater group for youth ages 10 to 25. The troupe will perform Clue: The Musical four times during Summerfair.
Trindle paving project nearing completion
The Trindle Road paving project is about two weeks away from completion, the state Department of Transportation announced Monday.
PennDOT spokesman Greg Penny said Kinsley Construction of York still needs to diamond grind sections of the roadway and conduct final line painting on the $1.2 million repair-and-resurfacing project.
“I would expect them to be done by mid-July,” he said.
The project started over three months ago to address nearly 4.8 miles of Trindle Road between Army Heritage Drive in Middlesex Township and just east of Locus Point Road in Silver Spring Township.
Final paving stopped last month when a problem was detected with the asphalt material, Penny said. Certain sections of the roadway didn’t meet state specifications and had to be removed and replaced — a cost absorbed by Kinsley, Penny explained.
As a result, motorists have had to travel over several rough patches that don’t align correctly with the roadway.
Officials: county still going strong financially
Dana Best expects Cumberland County will end 2008 relatively close to where it began the year – with a high level of financial reserves to weather it through most circumstances.
At the close of 2007, the county had an unreserved fund balance of $20.7 million, which represents approximately 39 percent of general fund revenues and roughly five months of expenditures and subsidies.
“We are faring well,” said Best, the county’s finance director.
The Government Finance Officers Association recommends that governments maintain a balance of no less than 5-15 percent of revenues or no less than one to two months of expenditures.
The hefty reserve allows the county to respond to emergencies, and helps with bond rating and lower interest on debt, Best explained. It also gets the county through the first quarter of the year, in terms of cash flow, before tax revenues start coming in, she said.
“The financial health of the county is good. We’re able to react if something happens,” she added.
Morning Update
The Sentinel Morning Update runs every weekday by 8 a.m. to take a look at what we have planned for our newspaper and Web site. Feel free to offer any suggestions, questions or feedback to jpratt@cumberlink.com
