"Important Employee Information"

To: All Employees
From: J. P. Mowery
Date: January 6, 2006
Re: Important Employee Information

Greetings,
I hope you had an enjoyable Christmas and took advantage of the holiday break to rest and recharge. Below are a few items that you hopefully will find to be informative.

PEIA
Your PEIA premiums are increasing, beginning with this paycheck. The average increase is approximately 7 percent. The new premium tables are located on the county website under Staff Resources/Insurance Info (left side of the page). You may have heard also about an additional future increase that was approved by the PEIA finance board. This increase would potentially raise PEIA premiums by an average of an additional 20+%, effective July 1, 2006. I know that several employee groups are lobbying the legislature to have this increase reduced.

W-2s
Additionally, your W-2s are being handed out at this time in a separate envelope. Your taxable wages are in box 1 of the W-2. If you are curious as to what your gross wages were for calendar year 2005, take your amount in box 1, add to this figure any amounts in box 14 and box 12a (12a if you had any tax sheltered annuities), and the resulting total is your gross wages for calendar year 2005.

Section 125 Plan Re-Enrollment
Also, the American Fidelity representative, Dean Patton (he is replacing Bob Bellissimo) is meeting with employees during the month of January. American Fidelity is the sponsor of our Section 125 cafeteria plan. This plan allows many deductions to be tax-sheltered, thus allowing employees to pay less tax during the year. IRS regulations require all employees to at least sign off on an information sheet, even if you want to make no changes to your current options. The IRS requires this so that we have proof that all employees have had the opportunity to participate. The tentative schedule has Mr. Patton at North Fork Elementary on January 3rd and 4th, Pendleton County Middle/High School on January 5th, 6th, 9th and 10th, Brandywine Elementary on January 11th (leaving at noon) and 12th, Franklin Elementary on January 13th (Mr. Patton will be at Pendleton Middle/High School during the morning staff development session), 17th and 18th, the bus garage on January 19th and 20th and at the board office on January 23rd.

Retirement
All employees in the Defined Contribution (New) Retirement Plan should have received information packets regarding the pending vote and potential merger into the Defined Benefit (old) Retirement Plan. The informational meeting scheduled for December was postponed and will be rescheduled in January or February.

Retirement Incentive
State code {§18-2-2(g)} provides for a $500 bonus to classroom teachers who provide written notification to the Board of Education prior to the first day of February of their intention to retire or resign from their positions at the conclusion of the current school year.

In addition, the school board at its last meeting passed an additional policy for persons who state their intent to retire, but who do not meet eligibility requirements until after the end of the current school year. This policy of the Board is to extend the $500 bonus to classroom teachers who submit a written notification of their intent to retire by no later than October 1 of the new school year. This notification must also be received prior to February 1 of the current school term which will allow the Board sufficient time to recruit a replacement for the retiring teacher.

FY 07 Pay Tables
Finally, the pay schedules for fiscal year 07 have been released. These tables will be effective July 1, 2006, and they will be uploaded to the county web site shortly. As you look at the web site to review the pay tables, take the opportunity to see else we have included under the Staff Resources section including under the subheading of Staff Notices. Other sections of the web site contain additional relevant information.

If you have any questions about this information or any other employee pay or benefits, please do not hesitate to contact me or Vicki Hammer at the board office.