When the school district announced the Union Contract agreement of 3.35 percent, it failed to announce that the 3.35 percent salary increase was a raise on a raise. Once again the announced salary increase was grossly misleading and perhaps another example of the school district's lack of transparency that keeps homeowners in the dark. The real cost to the taxpayer may be in excess of 6-10 percent each year over the life of the four-year contract. Knowing the real cost of the negotiated union contract is key to understanding our future.

Most residents think competent teachers deserve a decent salary for their good efforts and I happen to agree with this thought. However, many residents don't know teachers' future annual raises over the next 30 years are scheduled out for them thanks to a very savvy, ironclad union contract that provides raises based on 1) longevity - more years more salary increases up to 7 percent per year, and 2) college credits and degrees - more credits and degrees translate into raises of 20 percent or more. The new contract's 3.35 percent salary increase is simply in addition to the already existing scheduled raises that are given regardless of merit and in spite of the fact that the district is inundated with resumes from New York State certified teachers looking for positions. In short, teachers get automatic, irrevocable and ever increasing raises which have nothing to do with merit. Nor do tenured teachers get fired for incompetence.

Long-term teachers also receive 70 percent of their highest annual salary as an annual pension for life. The pension compounds the cost of the annual salary raises, since the higher the salary, the higher the pension. On top of the contract's raise on the scheduled raises, the taxpayer pays healthcare cost, which the school district has admitted will increase by 10 percent a year for each of the next four years. Apparently, teachers are provided lifetime healthcare at a taxpayer cost of about $1,000,000 per teacher.

Homeowners have become fairly astute and understand that as teacher's compensation increases so do their taxes in fairly equal proportions. As such, the school board's announcement of a 3.35 percent annual salary increase for the next four years may have inadvertently provided false hope that future tax increases may in the 3.35 percent range. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Sharon-Marie Rooney, M.D.