Albany City Schools say the district is facing a nearly $6 million budget gap and the school board is considering asking taxpayers to pay more if they don’t receive more state aid. Last month two administrators already receiving six-figure salaries were granted raises.
“We value good employees in the district and Bill Hogan and Kathleen Culligan go above and beyond in this school district and they are not the highest paid employees doing their work in the Capital Region even though you could make the case they have the hardest job,” said Ron Lesko, Director of Communications for the district.
The Empire Center for Public Policy said the salary increases represent only a small portion of the overall budget for the district.
“We can nit-pick and talk about individuals’ salaries and I think that’s good and I think that’s important looking at individual raises and holding them to the candle here is important, but when push comes to shove we have to look at the major cost drivers teacher salary costs are 70 to 80 percent of district costs,” said Tim Hoefer, Executive Director at the Empire Center.
© 2014, CBS 6 – Albany
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