Siuslaw School District grapples with increased PERS costs, cut in local option levy dollars

Kari Blake

Employer rate hikes to Oregon Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) has Siuslaw School district’s new business manager, Kari Blake, already working on the 2013-14 proposed budget, a task that would normally wait until early 2013.

Projections are that revenues will remain relatively flat. At the same time, the district must pay an additional $511,000 to PERS.

“Just under $1 million will go to PERS next year,” said Blake earlier this week. “Right now we are paying $460,000. That will bring us to $971,000.”

In September, the state’s PERS board approved employer rate hikes for the 2013-2015 biennium. With investment income down, employers must pay more to sustain the pension system.

Some of Blake’s grief may be eliminated if $865 million in PERS savings are realized, as planned in Gov. John Kitzhaber’s budget proposal for the 2013-15 biennium, released yesterday.

In a recent speech to the Oregon School Boards Association, the governor said that if the state continues “doing business as usual,” the cost to school districts will increase by more than $1,000 per student.

For the complete article see the 12-01-2012 issue.

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