ROCKLAND, Maine — The school board has approved pay raises for employees not represented by organized labor.
The Regional School Unit 13 board voted 7-1, with Thomaston board member Ronald Gamage opposed and Rockland board member Donald Robishaw Jr. abstaining at its Nov. 5 meeting.
The raises cover nearly 40 workers who do not work directly with students. Those include employees in the business office and the superintendent’s office, as well as members of the technology department.
The largest raise went to business manager Peter Orne, who received a 20 percent hike, bringing his annual salary from $75,000 to $90,000. Orne was hired in July 2014 to succeed Scott Vaitones.
The raises averaged 4 percent for the group, Orne said Thursday. He said these employees have seen their pay increase 10 percent overall during the past four years, which is less than all other employees in the district who are represented by associations.
The nonaligned workers also receive no retirement benefits, he said, and there is no salary scale applied to them as there is for other district employees, who get pay bumps after working a certain number of years.
Orne said his raise brings him in the range of what other business managers make in school districts. RSU 40, based in Union, pays its business manager $84,000. The business manager in the Five-Town Community School District and School Administrative District 28, based in Camden, is paid $89,500.
The money for the raises was in the budget, the business manager said.