Niles school district employee receives extra $66K in payroll error, only required to pay back half

Due to a payroll error, a part-time school library worker was overpaid $66,000 over five years, but will only be required to pay back half that amount under a settlement agreement between the school district, the employee and her union.

The school board for Niles Township High School District 219, or NTHS Dist. 219, has approved a settlement with a part-time school library worker the district overpaid in error, according to the Skokie Review.

The district overpaid Helen Rifkin, a part-time library employee at Niles West High School, by $66,531 over the course of five years, due to an error in the payroll reporting system. But the agreement between the board, the worker and her union only requires her to pay back $33,266.

The board voted Aug. 7 to approve the agreement and waive recovery of the remaining balance. Rifkin will need to make payments in 21 installments per year until June 30, 2023. If payments are not completed by that date, the full amount of overpayment will become due a month later.

NTHS Dist. 219 is also currently in the midst of considering a budget for 2018-2019. Board members are supportive of a plan that would not increase the tax levy. In 2016, the district raised its tax levy by 3 percent, translating to a $85 property tax increase for a homeowner with property valued at $300,000.

While local taxpayers will likely foot part of the bill due to the district’s error, NTHS Dist. 219 residents also pay for bloated administrative costs. Average administrator pay in the district is $131,238, outpacing the state average of $106,273. Additionally, the district has a student-to-administrator ratio of 91-1, also greater than the state average of 190-1. The district has seen the number administrators per student diverge from the state average after 2012, when the two were still comparable.