The Southern Cayuga Central School District is turning to a common business tool to conserve some cash going into what will likely be a couple of financially tough years.

The district will offer a retirement incentive this spring of $15,000 to teachers and $7,500 to support staff who have 30 years of service to Southern Cayuga and are of retirement age. Staff have until May 20 to act on the incentive.

Superintendent Mary Kay Worth said retirement incentives are intrinsically beneficial as senior staff members are at the upper echelon of the salary scale.

Even though some positions may need to be filled, moving those salaries off the payroll and replacing it with - more likely than not - entry-level pay will produce significant savings in the years to come.

If just three teachers retired, she said, the district would save $228,000 during the 2010-2011 year, which is the last year the district will receive aid from the federal stimulus package.

Local districts, including Southern Cayuga, are preparing for the 2011-12 year, which is expected to be financially difficult without the federal aid.

With that in mind, Worth, Business Administrator Martha Stevermer and the board of education had a lengthy discussion during the April 22 meeting about whom to offer the incentive to and in what amount.

While Worth initially recommended offering a $20,000 incentive only to the three most senior teachers with eligible age and service to keep the district's reserves healthy, the board opted instead to lower the incentive amount and open it up to everyone that meets the requirements.

“You have to look at the savings in three years,” board member Steve Morse said. “And it's huge. We have to look at it, not preparing for today, but for the future.”

This is not the first time the district has offered an incentive.

In fact, incentives were offered fairly regularly with the last one during the 2006-07 year.

That year no one took it, Worth said, and so the board opted to stop offering it and revisit the discussion in three years. But the board resurrected the dialogue earlier than expected when the economic crisis hit schools last fall.

“I know that we've been over this for umpteen years and said we aren't going to do it again,” board member Ted Rejman said. “However, it's improper of us to sit here and not think that we're not in drastic times. We're not going back on any word. We are adjusting for a situation that no one saw coming. ... In my mind, we offer the retirement incentive to whoever and let the chips fall where they may.”

Though most board members agreed with the measure for this year, Joe Lonsky believed it was unfair to the taxpayers.

“I'm against this on principle because the taxpayers take very good care of the teachers year after year after year,” he said. “Then the teachers say, 'Yes. I'll retire, but give me $20 large.'”

Staff writer Alyssa Sunkin can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 239 or alyssa.sunkin@lee.net