Yesterday, I wrote a piece in which I noted that the Lee’s Summit School District superintendent earned $258,660. Indeed, this was the figure cited in the recent audit of the school district and it was an accurate figure. It is not, however, his current salary. Shortly after we published the post, an astute reader of the blog pointed me to the superintendent’s current contract. This year, he is earning $282,831. Yes, he received a $24,171, or 9.3 percent, raise from last year to this year. Next year, he is due to receive $294,463, and $306,735 the year after that.
One mistake I made in the post was stating that his fringe benefits were in addition to his salary. His new contract states that the salary “includes the value of certain fringe benefits,” such as deferred compensation, family medical insurance, association dues, cell phone, business expenses, and a vehicle allowance. So, for the most part, his benefits are included in his salary total. Still, this is a pretty nice salary. In addition to these perks, he is allowed up to $3,000 additional income to cover fuel expenses. And, he is given 30 vacation days on top of holidays.
Let’s not forget, the superintendent is also a member of the Public School Retirement System (PSRS). That means the school district must provide a 14.5 percent match to his retirement contributions. All told, the compensation package for the superintendent of the Lee’s Summit School District is north of $320,000.
The district has historically paid a vehicle allowance to several employeewho use their personal vehicles to conduct official business within the district, but, other than for the superintendent, the district does not include vehicle allowances in employee contracts, and the Board does not approve the allowances as additional compensation. The district has not performed an analysis to ensure the vehicle allowances meet the needs of these positions or are reasonable. Using the IRS-allowed mileage rate, the superintendent would need to travel over 26,000 business-related miles to earn the $15,000 vehicle allowance he would have been paid for the year ended June 30, 2014. This number of miles is considerably more than the 4,284 business-related miles he drove his district-provided vehicle during calendar year 2012. The Board indicated in its response to our recommendation that it will no longer provide the superintendent with the vehicle allowance.
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