Newport-Mesa extends top business official’s contract for a year

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District’s deputy superintendent and chief business official, Paul Reed, will stay onboard for an additional year after trustees Tuesday approved an extension of his contract through June 2017.

District officials said the extension does not involve a compensation increase for Reed, 68, who will receive the same amounts he did this past school year – a base salary of $259,143, a transportation allowance of $7,800, a communications allowance of $1,200 and a tax-sheltered annuity payment of $40,414.

All other terms and conditions of Reed’s employment agreement – dated July 9, 2013 – will remain in force, the district said.

According to that contract, the district agrees to provide Reed and his spouse with fully paid medical, dental and vision group insurance coverage for 10 years after his retirement date.

Earlier this year, John Caldecott, the district’s former director of human resources, brought to light that the district had paid more than $200,000 into a separate retirement account for Reed as an incentive to delay his retirement. He began receiving the payments in the 2010-11 fiscal year.

The money is on top of what he will receive in his pension and is not taxable until Reed takes distributions in retirement.

Reed is the only management employee who receives additional retirement money from the district, said Newport-Mesa spokeswoman Annette Franco.

Reed’s contract states that the fund was established “in recognition of the board’s desire that the deputy superintendent continue to serve the district past the optimal STRS [State Teachers’ Retirement System] retirement age of 62.”

From 2006 to 2009, the district also paid more than $138,000 toward the purchase of two additional years of service credit for Reed.

District officials have said that Reed’s fiscal responsibility,expertise and ability to guide the district through recession and changes in state funding make him an exceptional employee.

Before joining Newport-Mesa in 2002, Reed spent 26 years in the Irvine Unified School District, where he started as a labor negotiator.

Currently, Newport-Mesa does not appear to be prepping anyone to take Reed’s position when he decides to retire, Franco said.

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Alex Chan, alexandra.chan@latimes.com

Twitter: @AlexandraChan10