Board declines restoration of member pay, votes to keep current compensation

At the organizational meeting, the board considered restoring member compensation to $3,500 per board member per year, a proposal the chair said would restore pay reduced after a prior referendum. Board members discussed comparable districts, the percentage change such an increase would represent and whether the district should reestablish the prior level of pay.

One board member (Speaker 4) raised the size of the increase—calculating what they described as roughly a 41% change—and moved to leave compensation at the current rate, which the motion referenced as $24.75 (the transcript does not specify whether that figure represents a per-meeting, monthly or other unit). The motion to leave compensation unchanged was seconded and approved by voice vote.

Board members asked for clarification about past actions and noted bargaining-unit pay freezes in prior years; Business Services (Speaker 6) provided context about prior freezes and said he would leave the decision to the board. The transcript records support for a more modest increase from some members but the board ultimately left compensation unchanged.

The record does not clarify the pay period or basis for the $24.75 figure; the board did not task staff in the transcript to provide an immediate reconciliation of the unit basis for that amount.