To the Editor:

Last week, there was an article addressing the contract negotiations between the Guilderland Central School District and its teacher assistants and office workers.  In the article, Lin Severance, Guilderland’s assistant superintendent of human resources, mentioned that she and Neil Sanders, the other negotiator for the district, addressed the subject of increasing the share of health-insurance costs to be paid by employees of the school district.    

Currently, and going back to the early 1970s, the district has covered 80 percent of the health insurance premiums while the remaining staff pay 20 percent.  During my 40 years working in finance with medium to large industries, the average employee contribution rate was 40 to 65 percent.  This is a major difference from what we are experiencing in the Guilderland school district.

In the article, Lin Severance stated, “At the end of the day, it’s difficult to request our smaller units to pay more while they are making less.  Our larger units need to move on that and be an example.”

Being retired and on a fixed income, I put myself and all other retirees in the same bucket as “smaller units.”  In the last nine years since my current home reached 100 percent assessment after being constructed, my school taxes have increased each year for a growth of 31 percent over those nine years. In the last four years since my retirement, my school tax has increased 5.6 percent while my pension income has remained fixed.

I put myself and other retirees in the “smaller unit” category and it is time the district either adjusts the tax rate paid by retirees who no longer have children in the school district or increases the contribution rate for employees.  Increasing the rate to 21 percent would save the district $162,000 while increasing the rate to 22 percent would create a savings of $325,000.

Health-care costs will continue to increase each and every year.  I love my home and community.  I strongly urge the school district to address this issue so myself and other retirees can continue to live in Guilderland!

Ray Bach

Guilderland