School employees return part of salary

Per an executive order from Governor Bev Perdue's office, state employees will have to return to the state .5 percent of their annual salary in next month's paycheck.

The announcement was made by Superintendent Jeff Cox during an April 28 special called meeting of the Alleghany County Board of Education. Word of the .5 percent reduction went out to teachers the following day.

For employees who are employed 10 months out of the year, the full .5 percent will be coming out their May paychecks, while year-round employees may have half come out of May paychecks and the other half out of June paychecks.

Cox said, "For somebody who makes $30,000 a year, for example, 1 percent would be $300, so half of a percent would be $150. So teacher making $30,000 is going to see in their May paycheck a $150 cut. So that .5 percent is going to come out of every state employee from the governor down through all our school employees across the state. The projections they're looking at now suggest that we're going to have in excess of a $3 billion shortfall in this year's budget and in order to meet her constitutional obligation of a balanced budget, that's the step she's having to take. I don't know if they'll be further steps as we get into May and June, but you all may hear something from our teachers. It's not a huge cut, and quite frankly at this time, I think most people are just glad to have a job. A .5 percent giveback is not nearly as bad as it could be, but it's still kind of unprecedented that people are having to give back part of their salary."

Cox added that Perdue is requesting that the .5 percent return not affect health insurance. "Over the long-term, she's asked that it not affect the calculations with the retirement."