Vail voters raise teachers’ pay

Vail voters raise teachers’ pay

November 7, 2001

VAIL, Colo. (AP) — Vail voters approved a plan Tuesday to raise taxes for the Eagle County School District RE-50J by $3,115,827 a year to help teachers cope with the high cost of living in a resort town.

A similar plan was leading in Aspen. Steamboat Springs and Winter Park also had plans on the ballot.

Eagle County ballot question 3D passed 59 percent to 41 percent, 3,945 votes for and 2,715 against.

The Eagle County district’s 378 teachers will get a cost-of-living increase averaging about $4,600. The current starting salary is $30,000.

The average price for a condo in Vail is $518,000. A single-family home averages $1.04 million. Only 20 percent of the town’s employees live within the city limits.

The ballot measures were made possible by a state law that a Vail citizens group helped pushed through the Legislature.

Opponents, like Vail-area resident Joy Overbeck, said it would be better to give teachers merit raises and reward those that deserve it.

Eagle County district officials last year offered a $1,000 bonus to teachers who agreed to stay another year, but 10 percent didn’t return. With additional teachers hired because of the area’s growing population and 27 teachers on sabbaticals, 24 percent of this year’s staff is new.