So how much is Wayland superintendent really paid annually?

So just how much does Wayland Schools Superintendent Norman Taylor make annually? Reports vary and they are confusing.

Taylor, who was granted a 1 percent increase last Monday night at a special meeting of the Wayland Board of Education, could be making as little as little as $127,509, or he could be making as much as $132,285.76. The difference is more than $4,500.

Taylor, hired by the school district at the end of 2010, self-imposed a voluntary 2% reduction in pay, so his $130,000 salary was decreased to $126,247. Wayland teachers during that academic year had agreed to a 2% reduction in pay as well.

Townbroadcast in July 2013, reported, “Because he received no raise in his salary, he continues to make $126,247, which is a 2% voluntary reduction of his salary that was set at $130,000 when he was hired.”

That salary figure was not contradicted in the nearly two years since.

Yet the Allegan County News & Gazette this week reported that his raise brought his annual salary up to $131,300. That figure was reached by using the $130,000 Taylor was hired in at more than five years ago.

But Townbroadcast reported last Monday night that he would make $132,285.76 with the 1% bump because the school district’s web site reports his salary at $130,976 under the heading of transparency in divulging what public school administrators in Wayland are paid.

Adding to the confusion is that the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in 2012 listed his salary at $130,000, and it indicated his complete compensation package ranked him 169th highest among the more than 500 districts in Michigan.

The News & Gazette this week said… ”Taylor got his first raise in five years.”

Was that no raise from the $126,247 after a voluntary pay reduction, or was it no raise from the $130,000 figure when he was first hired? As late as 2013 he was reported to be still making that lower amount.

Furthermore, Taylor’s contention that he hasn’t gotten a raise in five years is suspect because of a 1% increase in 403b retirement benefit that has amounted to different compensation.

Taylor has an annuity that the News & Gazette said is worth around $18,000. Wayland schools do not pay his retirement benefits, which would have been around $33,000.

Taylor had retired as a public school administrator before he came to Wayland.