NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WECT) - Members of the New Hanover County Board of Education voted Tuesday night to give themselves pay raises.
According to the district, during the 2009-10 school year, funding cuts forced the district to cut salaries by 1% for all employees of the district. At that time the board voted to reduce their compensation as well and indicated they would not increase their pay until employees of the district received a raise. During the 2012-13 budget process, the state approved a 1.2% raise for employees. That raise went into effect on July 1, 2012.
Tuesday night, the board decided to increase compensation to what it was in 2008-09.
This means the board chairman, Donald Hayes, will get $12,984 a year, up from $11,940.
Board members will be bumped up to $10,800 from $9,936.
Derrick Hickey was the only member of the board who voted against the increase.
"Teachers are going out using their own money for supplies in the classroom," said Carol Murray, a concerned citizen. "That's crazy. They could use this money that they just gave themselves to keep teachers from having to do that to go out and buy the supplies that the children need."
She was the only person who spoke out against the raises at the meeting.
The total this will cost the district is $6,100.
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