State Official Questions ‘Excessive’ Retirement Package for Local Superintendent

Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale questioned an “excessive” $228,682 retirement package for the former superintendent of the Upper Perkiomen School District.

According to a press release from DePasquale, the district’s school board agreed to pay the former superintendent Timothy Kirby, who served in the post for seven years, for 150 unused sick and vacation days, worth $112,962, and $115,720 for future healthcare coverage.

Kirby’s payout February 2012 payout came just months prior to an Act 82 amendment was signed into law by Governor Tom Corbett, limiting the unused sick leave to that can be bought out by employers.

The school board reportedly made several improvements to Kirby's contract roughly four months before his retirement, according to the release.

DePasquale said the payout was over and above what the district paid to the Public School Employees’ Retirement system to guarantee the Kirby a state pension; at the time of his retirement, Kirby was making $155,000 per year.

“This is the latest example of school boards bestowing superintendents with excessive contractual benefits rather than investing the money into classroom education,” DePasquale said.

In response, school board members said the district complied with all applicable laws and questioned why the auditor general’s office was commenting on a negotiated benefit package, according to DePasquale.

“School boards should be thinking more about the taxpayers and students, rather than administrators,” DePasquale said. “This contract and the amendments approved by the board were not in the best interests of the taxpayers or students.”

DePasquale also said that an audit of the district’s finances from 2008-2012 also found errors resulting in a reimbursement payment of $22,143.

Upper Perkiomen School District has not responded press release.