MARSHFIELD, WI (WSAU-WDLB) — It was a difficult decision but members of the Marshfield School Board have voted to modify the district’s retirement plan for professional staff hired before July 1st, 2012.
WDLB News in Marshfield reports that the plan modifies the amount of benefit that staff who retire in the next two years will receive more money than those who retire after 2023, with the benefit dropping every two years after then.
Board member and former teacher David Yakaites voted for it but knows it won’t be a popular change. “There will be some impact on various individuals, which is one of the reasons that this was not put into effect immediately last year when the hubbub came about,” he said.
Yakaites went on to call the move a difficult decision that needed to be made for the best interest of the district in terms of “unfunded mandates, liabilities, and future issues financially.”
For employees who retire before July 1st, 2021 $15,000 will be given for each year until Medicare eligibility. So, for example, an employee who turns 55 during the year they retire would be eligible for that amount fo up to ten years, a maximum benefit of $150,000.
Those who retire after July 1st, 2021 and before July 1st, 2023 would then be eligible for a maximum benefit of $125,000. There are also no “hire-backs” under the plan, meaning employees who are re-hired after retiring from full-time service will not be eligible for full-time reemployment rights.
Wednesday’s vote was 5-0 with two board members absent. It will now go into the employee handbook effective July 1st, 2019. Superintendent Dr. Ryan Christiansen said a new plan is also being worked out for those teachers hired after July 1st, 2012 with the goal of getting that language into the employee handbook in the near future as well.
