Nancy Kern reports in Columbia-Greene Media that the Columbia-Greene Community College Faculty Association and the school's Board of Trustees have agreed on a new contract that has been approved by the Greene County Legislature. The agreement goes through Aug. 31, 2027. “The settlement as a percentage of payroll ranges from 2.9 percent to 3.1 percent annually, over the term of the six-year contract,” said Diane Topple, C-GCC vice president for administration and chief financial officer. “The average increase per employee also ranges from 2.9 percent to 3.1 percent. The range of increases per employee over the contract term range from 2 percent to 3.9 percent, depending on salary.” College faculty member and former lead negotiator Gregory Berninger explained that the negotiations went well. “It was done in-house.... The Faculty and Administration worked on it together. I’m sure the lawyers were consulted, but we didn’t need to bring in lawyers to duke it out.” Greene County Legislator Michael Bulich, a Republican from Catskill, was the only vote against the agreement. He explained he is against pay raises for teachers. “I just think it’s too high of a percentage over the course of the contract.... Your budget will go up because of your payroll increases. Whenever the school’s budget goes up, we have to get more from our property owners. We’re going to keep increasing the costs of the government. I can’t do that to the people of our communities here. There’s got to be a more productive way.” Read the full story at HudsonValley360.com.