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12 - Oýrono Welky Timesý, Wdesjune 21,199ý5 Junior Choir JSntertains Seniors îunior Choir delighted the Seniors at the Durhamn County Senior Citizen's Lodge ivariety of sengs, and danced for the seniors in attendance. The junior choir is Two Orono girls cempeted this past weekend at the Reach Fer The Sky Pre-Comp. Meet in Oshawa. Both girls train long heurs at Gemini Gymnastics in Oshawa and théir hard work is paying off. Nicole MacDonald on the left won a gold for 1lst place on Vauli, a gold for 1lst on Bars, a bronze for School Board continued trom page 2 subtie form cf extortion. Queiy: is it then still sick leave" or has it thien been transforrned into semec- thing else? 3rd on Floor and 4th place on Bearn 'nnlier category for 7-8 year olds. Leanne Topper won a silver for 2nd on Bars, a bronze for 3rd on Vault, a bronze for 3rd on Beain and 4th place on Floor in hier cate- gory for 9 -10 yea r clds. And suppose further, just te make it werse, that the workplace is only open for business for 190 days, or about 9 months, per year with tie workers, or most cf them, getting the other 3 months off with pay. Sound far-fetched? Well, tint is the situation that the taxpayer is financing at the North umnberland -Claring ton Board of Education (and ail across Ontario, for that matter). Ernployees can, throughout their careers at the Board, accurnulate .1sick days" tint they do flot take and tlien when they retire a calcu- lation is made of the amount of. rnoney they are entitled to (this can, and usually dees, amount te a haif year's salary) and they then receive that sumn in the form of a kind of bDonus or going away pre- sent when they retire. These bonuses are called "GRATUITIIES". Based on figures in the Board's audited annual reports, gratuities paid te 29 retirees in 1994 totalled $987,364. Thiat's an average gratu- ity of $34,047 per person. in the 6 years 1989-1994 the Board paid out gratuities, the stag- gering total ef $4,037,223 te 157 recipients. You mnust understand that these bonuses were net a reward for superior performance or for work- ing overtime. Thie gratuity is sirn- ply the Board's way of saying thiank you for net staying home sick, t gets worse. Trhe workers - teachers, princi- pals, vice principals, custodians, secretaries, etc. - have legally bind- ing contracts for gratuities widh the Board which have becen in exis- tence for many years. In the course of that span of Urne an enermeus numbe-r of untaken sick days have accumulated. Those untaken sick days - i.e. future gratuities - are ncw an obligation of the taxpayer. Se, the question arises: is there rnny in dhe till te pay for these gratuities as they corne due? The answer, unfortunately, is no. At year end 1989 the unfunded liabiity for gratuities (again, from the Beard's own audited statement) was $ 13,332,000. By the end of 1994, in just 5 years, the unfunded liability had grown by more than 26% te $16,850,000. Am I1rnaking myseif clear here? What this means is that as cf the end of last year the taxpayers in this area were "on the hock" te the employees f'or the Board for near- ly 17 million dollars in future gra- average salary in the tep 5Syears of employment of $55,000 (which 3y. the average paid te high school teachers in 1992) would receive a pension of $39,600 per year fully indexed. A high school principal witb the sarne service and an average salary of $85,000 in the top 5 years (the average for ltls principals in 92 was $85,262) weuld receive a pension of $6 1,200, fully indexed. A senior administrator with the same service and an average salary of $ 100,000 (we guess that is what some of them are paid) would rceive a pension of $70,000. t should come as no surprise te learn 4that the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan is also underfunded (by now if you are still with me you are either frothing at the mouth or in tears) by the amount of 8.988 billion dollars at the end of 1992, according te the Fraser Institute. make it ail the more shameful in their eyes is that these workers are flot taking the rnny frem some for profit corporation but rather righit from the pockets of their friends and neighibours.I There is only se much money te go around. If we continue te spend fuà,ýon this gratuity policy, which is unnecessary, unwarranted and unaffordable, there wilI be just that much less for social programs and for reducing the deficit. 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