Iowa City school district superintendent Stephen Murley does paperwork Thursday, July 1, 2010 in his office in Iowa City. (Brian Ray/The Gazette)

Iowa City school district Superintendent Stephen Murley would get a 2.3 percent salary boost under a new contract the school board may vote on next week.

The contract would pay Murley $192,000 in the first year of a three-year deal that would run retroactively from last July 1 through June 30, 2015. The salary would be renegotiated each year.

Murley currently is paid $187,606.

Murley is in the final year of a three-year contract agreed to when he started with the school district. The current negotiations stretch back to the spring, an unusually long time by the district’s standards. Murley and board members have not said what has taken so long except that having several new school board members may have played a role.

The proposed contract seems to acknowledge the situation by setting specific annual deadlines for the superintendent’s evaluation and salary negotiations. That language is not in the current contract, although the board does have a policy saying the superintendent’s compensation should be revisited in June – a target it missed by several months this year.

The proposed contract was released by the district Thursday as part of the packet of information related to the school board’s Dec. 4 meeting. Board President Marla Swesey and Murley did not immediately return messages seeking comment early Thursday evening.

The new contract also includes several benefits, including $25,000 annually toward a supplemental retirement plan (Murley currently gets $20,000 a year to the tax-sheltered annuity of his choice), an annual vehicle allowance of $7,150 (up from $7,000) and an unspecified technology allowance for use of his personal cell phone for district business.

Murley’s base salary would increase $6,000 if he gets his doctoral degree. Murley said earlier this month that he’s working toward that degree, but it has been hard finding the time given the demands of his job.