Shaffer objects to year-end bonuses; cites expense, lack of discussion
By
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By BRANDY CHANDLER
and RORY RYAN
Highland County Commissioner Jeremy Shaffer is at odds with his two fellow Republican commissioners on a recent decision to approve year-end bonuses for county employees.
As reported here earlier this week, Highland County employees will be getting a bonus at the end of 2011, in a move commissioners said is to keep compensation equal among the employees.
A Dec. 16 email from the Highland County Board of Commissioners office to county department heads indicated the county will be "giving the employees a year-end bonus, as they have gone without any wage increase for going on four years."
Commission President Shane Wilkin told The Highland County Press this week they were trying to be fair to the employees.
"It's something that we had been looking at, to be as equitable as we could be, based on the results of the sheriff's office negotiations," Wilkin said.
Shaffer, however, told The Highland County Press today there had been no discussion in open session on the bonus payments.
"The money isn't allocated for salary now (for 2011) and it wasn't going to be spent; so in January, that was rollover money to be re-appropriated," Shaffer said.
"This was a missed opportunity for the county to begin to gain a competitive advantage," Shaffer said. "The money could have been used to offset the annual, long-term debt payments or used to gain a foothold for job creation and economic development.
"This was a passing discussion that never made it to the agenda; now it's an action item. This might be viewed as an arbitrary decision that is unfair by some. It seems that we are making the elected officeholders go over budget, and I don't know that I have seen an official request from any officeholders that would lead us down this path," Shaffer said.
"The county revenue is unreliable; in fact, the sales tax is unstable and funding from the state is uncertain, as well as being continuously reduced. I understand that this idea came from the fact that county government employees haven't seen raises; however, there are better ways to do this. It should have been tied to evaluations and a performance-based bonus procedure, to be fair and do the taxpayers justice," Shaffer said.
Wilkin said 37 county employees will receive the bonus. A total of $12,322 will be paid in bonus money.
When first asked for the total number of employees receiving bonuses and the total dollar amount, commissioners said they would have to check.
At the Dec. 21 board of commissioners meeting, Wilkin and commission vice president Tom Horst voted in favor of resolutions to authorize budget modifications for the additional compensation.
Shaffer voted against those modifications which required transfers from the "county miscellaneous" fund to cover the payments in some departments.
In September, a conciliator in binding arbitration ruled in favor of 33-cent per hour raises for the employees at the Highland County Sheriff's Office, retroactive to January 2011. That meant that approximately $38,000 to $44,000 would be needed to make payroll.
Because the raises would most likely have resulted in multiple layoffs in order to maintain the existing budget, the employees agreed to forego the raises to preserve staffing levels. As part of that agreement, instead of the raises, the employees received one payment of $400, and insurance was to stay the same.
According to the Dec. 16 email from the commission, the bonuses are being calculated by taking "$10 per hour of regularly scheduled employees (in a) regularly scheduled work week. Examples: 40 hours per week, employees (receive) $400. (In a) 30-hour week (the employee receives) $300. This is to include permanent part-time employees who work a regularly scheduled week."
"We're trying to be as fair as we can," Wilkin said. "Starting in 2009, in many cases, employee hours were reduced, furlough days were implemented. In many cases, costs were increased to the employees through insurance. We do not believe (a few hundred dollars) a year (per employee) is out of line at this point."
Commissioners said in the email to department heads, "We ask that you cover the cost, if funds are available, in your current budget line items. Please do a budget modification. If you have an employee paid from split funds, we ask that you divide the bonus accordingly. Should you not have funds available to cover this or have other questions, please contact the auditor as soon as possible. This amount is not to be included in 2012 budget."
At Wednesday's meeting, Highland County Auditor Bill Fawley said he anticipates a carry-over of approximately $400,000, "which is about $50,000 better than we thought," he said.
"The $400,000 carry-over is not including January and February bills," Shaffer said. "I'd say it's probably less than $100,000."
Fawley presented an estimate revenue report for 2012 that included $8,500,050 in estimated funds for next year. The report included an anticipated reduction in local government funds of $190,000, Fawley said.
The 2011 general fund budget was approximately $8.3 million.
In other business:
• Commissioners received a written letter of request from Highland County resident Fred Boggess for "all e-mail received and sent by the Highland County commissioners and the clerk for the commissioners using public e-mail set up and paid for by Highland County that deal with budget, budget modifications and budget appropriations or any combination of the same for the calendar year 2011." Boggess said he would provide a blank CD, DVD or digital storage device for the copies requested.
• Commissioners received one bid, in the amount of $15,100, from Baldwin Farms for a 64-acre cropland lease at the Leesburg Industrial Park.
• Commissioners received a letter of rejection from the Ohio Department of Commerce’s Division of Industrial Compliance and Labor on the county’s plans to remodel the former Children Services building at 117 E. Main St. in Hillsboro.
“The plans for the project have been reviewed and were found to be incomplete and/or to contain violations of the Ohio Building Code (OBC). As a result, (the) plans cannot be approved at this time,” Superintendent David Williamson wrote.
The county has 30 days to request an appeal hearing, which costs $200.
The commissioners plan to relocate the county probation office from the annex on North High Street to the East Main Street location.[[In-content Ad]]
and RORY RYAN
Highland County Commissioner Jeremy Shaffer is at odds with his two fellow Republican commissioners on a recent decision to approve year-end bonuses for county employees.
As reported here earlier this week, Highland County employees will be getting a bonus at the end of 2011, in a move commissioners said is to keep compensation equal among the employees.
A Dec. 16 email from the Highland County Board of Commissioners office to county department heads indicated the county will be "giving the employees a year-end bonus, as they have gone without any wage increase for going on four years."
Commission President Shane Wilkin told The Highland County Press this week they were trying to be fair to the employees.
"It's something that we had been looking at, to be as equitable as we could be, based on the results of the sheriff's office negotiations," Wilkin said.
Shaffer, however, told The Highland County Press today there had been no discussion in open session on the bonus payments.
"The money isn't allocated for salary now (for 2011) and it wasn't going to be spent; so in January, that was rollover money to be re-appropriated," Shaffer said.
"This was a missed opportunity for the county to begin to gain a competitive advantage," Shaffer said. "The money could have been used to offset the annual, long-term debt payments or used to gain a foothold for job creation and economic development.
"This was a passing discussion that never made it to the agenda; now it's an action item. This might be viewed as an arbitrary decision that is unfair by some. It seems that we are making the elected officeholders go over budget, and I don't know that I have seen an official request from any officeholders that would lead us down this path," Shaffer said.
"The county revenue is unreliable; in fact, the sales tax is unstable and funding from the state is uncertain, as well as being continuously reduced. I understand that this idea came from the fact that county government employees haven't seen raises; however, there are better ways to do this. It should have been tied to evaluations and a performance-based bonus procedure, to be fair and do the taxpayers justice," Shaffer said.
Wilkin said 37 county employees will receive the bonus. A total of $12,322 will be paid in bonus money.
When first asked for the total number of employees receiving bonuses and the total dollar amount, commissioners said they would have to check.
At the Dec. 21 board of commissioners meeting, Wilkin and commission vice president Tom Horst voted in favor of resolutions to authorize budget modifications for the additional compensation.
Shaffer voted against those modifications which required transfers from the "county miscellaneous" fund to cover the payments in some departments.
In September, a conciliator in binding arbitration ruled in favor of 33-cent per hour raises for the employees at the Highland County Sheriff's Office, retroactive to January 2011. That meant that approximately $38,000 to $44,000 would be needed to make payroll.
Because the raises would most likely have resulted in multiple layoffs in order to maintain the existing budget, the employees agreed to forego the raises to preserve staffing levels. As part of that agreement, instead of the raises, the employees received one payment of $400, and insurance was to stay the same.
According to the Dec. 16 email from the commission, the bonuses are being calculated by taking "$10 per hour of regularly scheduled employees (in a) regularly scheduled work week. Examples: 40 hours per week, employees (receive) $400. (In a) 30-hour week (the employee receives) $300. This is to include permanent part-time employees who work a regularly scheduled week."
"We're trying to be as fair as we can," Wilkin said. "Starting in 2009, in many cases, employee hours were reduced, furlough days were implemented. In many cases, costs were increased to the employees through insurance. We do not believe (a few hundred dollars) a year (per employee) is out of line at this point."
Commissioners said in the email to department heads, "We ask that you cover the cost, if funds are available, in your current budget line items. Please do a budget modification. If you have an employee paid from split funds, we ask that you divide the bonus accordingly. Should you not have funds available to cover this or have other questions, please contact the auditor as soon as possible. This amount is not to be included in 2012 budget."
At Wednesday's meeting, Highland County Auditor Bill Fawley said he anticipates a carry-over of approximately $400,000, "which is about $50,000 better than we thought," he said.
"The $400,000 carry-over is not including January and February bills," Shaffer said. "I'd say it's probably less than $100,000."
Fawley presented an estimate revenue report for 2012 that included $8,500,050 in estimated funds for next year. The report included an anticipated reduction in local government funds of $190,000, Fawley said.
The 2011 general fund budget was approximately $8.3 million.
In other business:
• Commissioners received a written letter of request from Highland County resident Fred Boggess for "all e-mail received and sent by the Highland County commissioners and the clerk for the commissioners using public e-mail set up and paid for by Highland County that deal with budget, budget modifications and budget appropriations or any combination of the same for the calendar year 2011." Boggess said he would provide a blank CD, DVD or digital storage device for the copies requested.
• Commissioners received one bid, in the amount of $15,100, from Baldwin Farms for a 64-acre cropland lease at the Leesburg Industrial Park.
• Commissioners received a letter of rejection from the Ohio Department of Commerce’s Division of Industrial Compliance and Labor on the county’s plans to remodel the former Children Services building at 117 E. Main St. in Hillsboro.
“The plans for the project have been reviewed and were found to be incomplete and/or to contain violations of the Ohio Building Code (OBC). As a result, (the) plans cannot be approved at this time,” Superintendent David Williamson wrote.
The county has 30 days to request an appeal hearing, which costs $200.
The commissioners plan to relocate the county probation office from the annex on North High Street to the East Main Street location.[[In-content Ad]]