Complete salary and benefit information for all employees of the school district
Dear Lacey Township School District,
This is a request for public records made under OPRA and the common law right of access. I am not required to fill out an official form. Please acknowledge receipt of this message.
Records requested: Complete salary and benefit information paid for by the school district for each and every employee. The list should include only what the school district is paying for each employee not the employees share.
This request should list the name of the employee, Their yearly salary, Social Security Tax paid for each employee, Pension contributions made by the district for each employee, All health insurance costs for each and every employee paid by the district, unemployment insurance taxes paid by the district for each employee and the value of the employees banked unused sick time and personal days, vacation days etc. Please call if you have any questions or need clarification.
Yours faithfully,
Richard A. Bidnick
Mr. Bidnick.
Good morning.
This email confirms that as the district’s official Custodian of Records,
I received your Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request via email on
Tuesday, July 15, 2019.
In accordance with the law, I have seven (7) business days to either
provide the information requested or a valid reason why the information
requested cannot be provided. Due to the fact that the District will be
closed on Fridays for the summer, the seventh (7th) business day deadline
to respond to your request is Monday, July 29, 2019.
Thank you.
Mr. Bidnick,
Good morning.
Regarding your Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request received by me on
Tuesday, July 16, 2019, please note the following:
1. Your request did not specify a range of dates. Therefore, a
presumption was made to provide records for the 2018-2019 school year.
2. The information you requested is not available in a single record.
3. The following record is being provided to you in its entirety and are
deemed to be partially responsive to your request:
• 2018-2019 Employee Salary Composite Report:
• This report presents selected salary information - including the
name and calculated salary - for all district employees for the
2018-2019 school year.
• This record is being transmitted to you electronically via PDF.
Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5.b., the cost associated with
providing these records is $0.
4. The remainder of your request requires additional time beyond the
seven (7) business days to fulfill due to:
• Additional reports need to be produced.
• These reports must be converted from one medium to another.
• These reports must be redacted to exclude information which,
according to the law, is exempt from disclosure.
• Therefore, and pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5.i., I
respectfully request an extension of time to Thursday, August 15,
2019.
Thank you in advance for your understanding.
Dear DeGeorge, Patrick,
Thank you for the info. A few clarifications please. Is this the salaries for every employee from July 1, 2018 thru June 30, 2019?
Can you please put all of the info I requested into a spreadsheet with all of the info on one line for each and every employee so I can get the accurate figures for what it cost for each and every employee to the district? This is what I was asking for not separate sections of info . I know you have to pull the info from other area for the other reports etc. for example
Employee name, Salary, SS deduction paid by the district, Pension contribution made by the district, Unemployment tax paid by the district, Health insurance premiums paid by the districts, Value of unused sick days, Personal days etc
Thank you
Richard Bidnick
Yours sincerely,
RICHARD A. BIDNICK
Mr. Bidnick,
Please be advised that a valid OPRA request seeks specific, identifiable
government records. Valid OPRA requests do not ask questions, do not seek
information, and do not require a custodian to conduct any research or
create a new record. The Government Records Council has routinely upheld a
custodian's denial of a request on the basis that it is invalid because it
asks questions, seeks information, and requires a custodian to conduct
research or create a new record.
Accordingly, I am happy to provide specific identifiable records, and even
redact them as needed. However, if you require me to answer questions,
conduct research or create new records then I will have no choice but to
deny your request as invalid.
Please be guided accordingly.
Thank you.
Dear DeGeorge, Patrick,
Ok Understood thank you. Please send along the rest of the info you said you would supply for the other reports etc.
Yours sincerely,
RICHARD A. BIDNICK
Mr. Bidnick,
Good afternoon.
Regarding your OPRA Request received by me on Tuesday, July 16, 2019
requesting "Complete Salary and Benefit Information for all Employees of
the School District", please note that in addition to the records provided
to you on Thursday, July 25, 2019, attached to this email are the
following records:
• 12 PDFs - each entitled, "Health Benefits - Month+Year" (Redacted for
Social Security Number, Date of Birth, and Dependent Names)
• 1 PDF entitled, "FY19 Rx Bills"
• 1 PDF entitled, "FY19 Dental Bills" (Actual file is too large to send
via email - Link to Google embedded.)
[1][IMG][2] OPRA Request - Bidnick - FY19 Dental Bills.pdf
These records are deemed to be responsive to your request, and are being
transmitted to you via email PDF. Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5.b., the
cost associated with this request is $0.
Please also note that no records were found regarding the following:
• Social Security Tax - No records exist by employee. However, the
FICA tax rate of 7.65% consists of Social Security tax at a rate of
6.2% and the Medicare tax at a rate of 1.45%. In addition, the
maximum Social Security tax employees and employers will each pay
in 2019 is $8,239.80.
• Pension Contributions - No records exist by employee. However, please
note that the district does not contribute toward pension for TPAF
employees. The district contributes toward pension for PERS employees
at a rate of approximate;ly 14.11%.
• Unemployment Insurance - No records exist by employee. However, for
2019, employees are subject to a 0.0425% (.000425) Workforce
Development Partnership Fund tax rate. The
employee Unemployment Insurance tax rate remains at 0.3825% (.003825)
of taxable payroll.
Thank you.