MEHLVILLE • It was an offer not many would refuse: a $38,000 pay increase with an additional $25,000 to stay on the job for three more years.

But Mehlville School Superintendent Terry Noble announced Thursday that he would give back the large pay boost. Instead, he accepted a 3 percent raise, the same as other district staff members, and agreed to a one-year contract.

In April, the School Board raised Noble's salary to $226,000 a year in an effort to keep him from retiring. But district residents objected.

"The discussion about our school district was focusing away from students," Noble told the Post-Dispatch on Friday. "It was a distraction, and it was an issue. It was not good for the welfare of our district to interfere with our needs."

Those needs might land on the ballot this fall in the form of a 94-cent tax increase for projects such as building a new middle school, replacing 10-year-old computers, and expanding kindergarten and preschool programs.

But a telephone survey of residents this month showed the pay issue was blocking support for a tax measure.

More than 80 percent of 501 registered district voters surveyed said the board's decision to significantly raise the superintendent's salary made them less likely to vote for a tax increase, district officials said.

Resident Jim Stonebreaker attended the School Board meeting Thursday night where Noble announced he was giving back the raise. Stonebreaker said the salary offer shouldn't have been on the table.

"The board should have never offered him such an unbelievably rich pay increase, because the taxpayers are suffering," he said.

Noble is entering his fourth year as superintendent. Board president Tom Diehl said Noble was instrumental in raising school morale and test scores, and helping the district become fiscally responsible.

"We knew there would be pushback from some members of the community, but we were focusing on what Terry had done for us for the last three years and wanted to make sure he would stay with our district," Diehl said.

The board was trying to compensate for a quirk in the Missouri school retirement system by which Noble would make more money by retiring now, after 36 years in education, than if he continued working at his current salary, Diehl said.