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Schools, Union In Contract Talks

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By RONNIE BLAIR, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 7, 2007

LAND O' LAKES - The Pasco County School District and the union that represents school employees are back at the bargaining table, trying to work out an agreement on salaries nearly three months into the academic year.

The district and United School Employees of Pasco resumed negotiations Monday evening after a long hiatus as they waited to find out how the recent special session of the Legislature would affect the district's budget.

The union still doesn't have all of the financial information, but decided it needed to put an economic proposal on the table and get the negotiations moving again, said Lynne Webb, president of the union.

"We need to proceed quickly and earnestly," she said.

Webb noted that counties such as Hillsborough and Pinellas have reached settlements, and employees are eager for Pasco to follow suit.

The eventual goal is to get a salary increase into employees' paychecks, and a settlement is just the first step in that process, Webb said. The employees and the school board both have to ratify any tentative agreement.

Webb said negotiators "don't have a lot of time to dillydally" if there's any hope of approving an increase that employees would receive before the winter break, which begins Dec. 24.

New health insurance rates take effect in January, and employees who buy coverage for dependents will be spending more, so they could use the extra pay, Webb said.

In recent years, the district and the union typically have reached a contract agreement before the first day of school in August, but uncertainty about state funding led to this year's delay.

The negotiations come at a time when an effort also needs to begin to educate employees about a statewide property tax initiative that will be on the Jan. 29 ballot, Webb said.

The initiative, if passed by voters, would double the value of the $25,000 homestead exemption and allow homeowners to take their Save Our Homes protection with them if they move. Save Our Homes caps how much the taxable value of property can rise each year.

The result could mean $12.4 billion would be trimmed from local property tax collections statewide, including $2.4 billion for education.

Olga Swinson, the district's chief finance officer, said she plans to attend a state finance conference this week, and the property tax issue is one of the subjects on the agenda.

Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218 or rblair@tampatrib.com.

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