Fort Lee Superintendent, School Administrators Decline Pay Raises

Fort Lee’s Superintendent of Schools, along with other top administrators, will decline salary increases next year in order to ease some of the financial burden on the district brought about by a particularly challenging budget cycle.

"I am going to personally take a salary freeze next year and forgo the increase that was in my contract," Superintendent Raymond Bandlow said. "This budget is going to be challenging. We are now looking at a very difficult year, because we are under a very restrictive cap, a 2 percent cap, which will also make it necessary to make some serious reductions."

Other administrators expected to decline a pay increase are assistant superintendent Steven Engravalle and business administrator Cheryl Balletto, neither one of which are contractually guaranteed pay raises

The school board’s 2011-2012 budget year is the first to be prepared under a new state law limiting public school districts to a tax increase of 2 percent.

"We hope that we can do some things to make it not necessary for us to reduce the number of employees that we did last year," Bandlow said.

Bandlow was scheduled to receive a 4 percent salary increase under his current contract, which started in 2009. A merit-based increase would have brought the total raise to 6 percent, but he said he’s giving up both.

Bandlow's base salary is $210,940 annually, according to the state Department of Education.