Oak Creek-Franklin Superintendent Sara Burmeister will receive a one-time, 3 percent bonus this year.
The School Board approved the payment Monday night. Burmeister earns a salary of $153,497, according to Department of Public Instruction data, making the bonus worth $4,604.
Board members said that they chose to approve a bonus rather than a salary increase to help keep pension costs down, an idea that came from board member Mark Verhalen, who was elected to his first term in April.
Board President Frank Carini gave Burmeister high praise for her job performance. The bonus was an outside-the-box idea to reward her while keeping costs down for taxpayers, he said.
"Every time you give a salary increase, there is a domino effect" on pensions, Carini said. The bonus eliminates the pension aspect of it, he said.
"We felt a one-time bonus is more effective in long-term cost savings overall."
Carini said the board approved a 3.4 percent salary increase for Burmeister two years ago and froze the salary last year.
Jay Harvanek
5:52 pm on Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Maybe it's just me, but it doesn't seem to be the time for the goverment to be giving out bonuses to the top people when they are going to be taking things away from people on the bottom.
Tom
9:30 pm on Tuesday, October 11, 2011
What did this person do to get a bonus? Show up for work everyday? Specifically, what was the performance to goals that resulted in the bonus ......????????????????
Mark B
10:10 pm on Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Only after the yearly numbers come in and the overall outlook for the next year is taken into account are the decisions made to award bonuses. Fortunately I was able to take one last year. It had been 6 years between bonuses.