Newton County School District Board of Trustees is taking a look at the pay for a certified mechanic to help maintain and repair the district’s fleet of school buses.
In a Board of Trustees meeting Monday, Superintendent J.O. Amis told the board he was working on developing a pay scale for the position based on the pay of current and former employees.
“We’ve never had a pay scale for a mechanic,” he said. “It’s always been negotiated.”
The district currently has one mechanic on staff but maintaining the district’s buses is more than one person can tackle, Amis explained. Creating a pay scale would not only help the district payroll staff but would also provide a benefits-eligible position, something, he said, uncommon for mechanic positions.
The board agreed being able to offer health insurance and retirement as part of the package would make an appealing position for qualified candidates. Amis said he would work toward developing a recommendation for the pay scale and would bring his findings to the board at their Sept. 15 meeting.
Also on Monday, Business Manager Cay Clark informed the board the district ended the 2019 fiscal year in good shape. For the month of July, she said revenues were up about $2,000 more than expected. Expenditures were also up slightly, at a little over $19,000 compared to $18,800 expected costs, but it was well within the buffer built into the budget.
Clark said she was working on the final numbers for FY19 and expected to be done in several weeks. Additionally, she said, the district’s auditor had reached out and wanted to begin the annual audit beginning in September.
“If we make every budget look like that, we’ll be in great shape,” Jason Cain, vice president of the board, said.
In other business, the Board of Trustees:
●Discussed a grant from Mississippi Power to install solar panels on district buildings;
●Discussed raising school bus driver salaries;
●Approved the Newton County Career and Technical Center Handbook; and
●Approved the FY2020 budget with no changes.
