
With Derby Interim Finance Director Keith McLiverty working full-time elsewhere and the pending retirement of Mark Izzo, School Business Manager, Derby is presented with a unique opportunity that could benefit both the city’s taxpayers and students in the district.
The Board of Education recently posted the opening for a School Business Manager with a salary of $125,000. The administration asked the Board of Aldermen/Alderwomen as part of the process of looking to hire a permanent Finance Director to set the salary for the position at $95,000. Both positions manage approximately the same amount of revenue and expense, as the Board of Education represents approximately half of the city’s entire budget. The qualifications of the two positions, as one would expect are very similar and could easily be combined to attract a financial professional to handle all the responsibilities involved.
The combined salaries of the two positions equals $215,000. If the two positions were combined, in effect creating a Chief Financial Officer who would manage all of the city’s finances, while at the same time serving as the City Finance Director, the salary could be set so as to attract a top flight financial professional to manage the financial affairs of the entire city with a substantial savings. Besides the savings in salary, there would also be a savings in the cost of benefits, which typically runs 30% – 40% of a positions salary.
The savings that result could be split equally between the city and the Board of Education resulting in a win/win for both the taxpayer and our kids. The city could use their portion to reduce current/anticipated city spending, for example, the funding that will be required for recently voter approved switch from a part-time to full-time mayor, which along with a substantial salary increase, would also include the cost of benefits. The Board of Education could use the additional dollars towards additional direct instruction with the goal of improving Derby’s poor performance on state standardized testing.
The time has come for the administration to demonstrate its influence and the leadership residents deserve, by seizing the moment and bringing together the necessary elected officials to establish a way forward that accomplishes the objective, while serving all parties, to the benefit of the taxpayers and our kids.
Sincerely,
Walt Mayhew
The writer is the treasurer of the City of Derby