Feb 22, 2017 4 min read

WAYNESBURG – Members of Central Greene School Board were confronted at their Tuesday meeting by four of the six tax collectors for the district whose salaries were cut by the board last week.

“I’ve been a tax collector for the district for 32 years, and I’ve never gotten a raise,” said Karen Stockdale, 70, of Washington Township. “I’ve gone along with that for 32 years. It was just an insult to me to get the cut.”

Stockdale’s part-time salary was cut by 19 percent. Four other tax collectors were cut by that much or more, and only one of the six tax collectors received a salary increase.

Board President Andrew Corfont said the board had looked at the tax collector salaries and noticed they were all getting paid different amounts per parcel of land. Corfont said the board decided at its Feb. 14 meeting to change the salaries so each tax collector would make $5.50 per parcel, saving the district $22,000.

Corfont said the board compared that rate to other districts’ rates for tax collectors. He said Carmichaels pays $2.74 per parcel, Jefferson-Morgan pays $4.39 per parcel and West Greene pays $11.22 per parcel.

The tax collectors for Central Greene also were upset that they weren’t notified their salaries were changing. Kayla Balint, tax collector for the borough of Waynesburg, said they had asked for a raise last month. Instead, they found out after the board’s vote that most of them were getting salary cuts. Linda Vandruff of Whiteley Township lost about two-thirds of her salary and told the board that she would no longer be able to afford health care and would possibly need to find a new job.

“None of us were notified that vote was going to take place,” she said.

The board’s decision was made the day before the deadline, Feb. 15, to set the tax collectors’ salaries for the next four years. The pay cuts will go into effect Jan. 1 next year.

“It was not discussed with us, and they did it at a school board meeting the day before the deadline,” Stockdale said. “It was done behind our backs. I think it was very petty for them to do this to us.”

Corfont said that because the tax collectors are elected officials and not employees of the district, the board is “not obligated to notify them” of the pay cut.

During the heated discussion Tuesday, Balint said she received a comment from a board member, whom she declined to name, who told her that “our husbands have incomes that will support us.”

Corfont responded, saying that comment “was not made at this table.”

A Wayne Township taxpayer, Roy Brendel, attended the meeting to speak on behalf of Joan Lemley, the Wayne Township tax collector.

“Joan hasn’t had a raise in 20 years, and instead of getting a raise she got a pay cut – 24 percent of her salary,” Brendel said. “These people should be getting a raise, not the shaft.”

Wayne Township Supervisor Tim Chapman also expressed concern that the district’s decision will put a “burden” on the townships.

“It’s almost something that we feel we need to pick up now, but we’re just as strapped as you are,” he said. “I know I could probably find other cuts to make in your budget. Couldn’t you find $22,000 somewhere else?”

Corfont told him that the board is still “looking for the $3.4 million from two years ago,” referencing 2015 taxes owed them from the former Alpha Natural Resources, which declared bankruptcy in 2015.

Superintendent Brian Uplinger said last month that the district has received 2016-17 taxes from Alpha and expects to receive the 2015-16 taxes from the company this year.

Central Greene is the only district in the county that has approved a preliminary budget for next school year, requesting from the state the option to raise taxes above the inflationary index through certain exceptions provided in Act 1 of 2006.

Uplinger and business manager Jim Shargots said last month if the district does go above the index, the additional money would be used for special education or pension contributions.