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Rockdale County employees to receive bonus

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By Aimee Jones (528)

Wednesday, May 23, 2012
© Copyright 2013 Rockdale Citizen

CONYERS -- In a 2-1 vote, the Rockdale County Board of Commissioners approved a $1,000 bonus for most full-time county employees.

Commissioner Oz Nesbitt and Chairman Richard Oden voted in favor of a resolution on Tuesday authorizing the one-time payment. Commissioner JaNice Van Ness voted against the measure.

The one-time payment will be processed on June 15. All employees who have worked for the county for at least a year, beginning Jan. 1, 2011, are eligible for the bonus. Full-time employees will receive $1,000 and part-time employees who worked more than 20 hours a week in fiscal year 2011 will receive $250.

Finance Director Roselyn Miller formally proposed the idea of the bonus to county commissioners last week during their work session. She said that it was expected that $2 million in reserve funds would needed to balance the 2011 budget. However, due to budget-cutting measures taken by department heads and constitutional officers, the $2 million in reserve funds was not needed, she said. Therefore, the county was in a position to offer county employees a bonus and put some money back into the reserve fund.

The total amount needed for the bonuses is $965,000.

Approximately 730 full-time employees will receive a $1,000 bonus and 70 part-time employees would receive the $250 bonus. Elected officials will not receive any bonus.

Van Ness said on Tuesday she was in favor of providing county employees a bonus, but was concerned that the move was more of a "Band-Aid" that would serve to temporarily "appease" county employees. She said employees and taxpayers would be better served with a long-term plan to address employees' pay.

"I would recommend we defer this resolution to look at long-term solutions and look at our 2013 budget," said Van Ness, pointing out that $28 million was collected this last year in property taxes and the Tax Commissioner's Office is expecting an 8 percent decrease next year.

Van Ness added that department heads and managers spent many weeks recently conducting performance evaluations, which should be used to determine raises and bonuses.

"That they are not considered is of great concern to me," she said.

Rockdale County resident Garvin Haynes addressed the BOC and said he was disappointed that every employee -- including those with the highest incomes who have received pay increases in recent years -- would be receiving the same bonus.

"You should have exempted the exempted," he said.

Nesbitt took issue with Van Ness' characterization and said that while he too would prefer to be able to give county employees raises, this one-time bonus is better than nothing.

"Saying this is simply to 'appease' employees sounds disrespectful, to be honest," Nesbitt said. "This is a one-time shot in the arm. It certainly will not solve all the problems, but it will show that this board is in tune with the needs of our employees."

Van Ness said she had misspoken when she used the word "appease," but she repeated that she was concerned that the leadership of the BOC was not looking for long-term solutions.

Oden disagreed and said that the BOC has been "very fiscally responsible" over the last three years."

"We have ample resources in our budget to offer our employees this one-time bonus," he said.

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Comments

conyersgirl 12 months ago

mr garvin haynes - you need to get your facts together before you open your mouth & look foolish ------- some of the exempt employees that are paid by salary & not by hourly do not even make 40,0000 a year and have not had a raise in several years. the BOC is trying to show that while its hard times all around they know that it is the employees that run the day to day functions of this county. they just want to show some appreciation for their daily hard work. so dont say exempt employees should be exempt.

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maryinga 12 months ago

I think raises would be better....that way they have the "extra" all year long.

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BOCWatch 12 months ago

Once again the daring duo has taken the easy way out and once again the employees are the ones to get the shaft. Van Ness was right on with her remarks, you will find the video at the below address:

http://bocwatch.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=819

@ConyersGirl; it has been documented that almost all of the exempt employees have had a raise in the last 3 years. People like Dwight Wicks, Roselyn Miller, Linda Nabers, David Smith, etc. After all there have even been interns given raises over the last three years. Don't believe me?? Take a look at the following URL, it contains an ORA sent in for employees that have received raises:

http://bocwatch.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=460

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justgrace 11 months, 4 weeks ago

No, almost all of the exempt (salaried) employees have not received a raise in the present or previous years. Many have not received a raise in 5 years, even thought their performance reviews have always been exemplary. There are a lot of salaried employees who make far less than $40,000 annually.

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whyohwhy 11 months, 4 weeks ago

BOCwatch is right...The county employees are the ones getting the raw end of the deal.

Van Ness was right when she used the word appease! Nesbitt and Oden can play this like Van Ness is the bad guy for political motivation all they want, but the reality is that $1000...oops I mean $600 after taxes, that the employees get will do nothing but appease them for the moment. Although I do agree that something is better than nothing, what the county employees need is a long term solution. A 3-5% raise that should have happened a long time ago.

Ask any of the deputies what the City of Conyers Police Officers are making....Its sickening how much more CPD makes than our guys who are out here protecting the county. Wonder why no one wants to work here....uh because people like to eat! Rockdale needs to wake up and smell the roses because believe it or not...You get what you pay for!!!!!!!!!!!!

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heresyafacts 11 months, 4 weeks ago

People who have had raises in the past three years - or at least the past two - should have been exempt from this handout. But they weren't. No effort was made by the BOC to differentiate between those who have and haven't gotten raises. That is the issue that Garvin was addressing, and I wholeheartedly agree with his view -- SOME county employees in SOME departments, for whatever reason, have been rewarded with raises and 'salary adjustments' and 'promotions', and the rest are told that there's just no money in the budget, so sorry, maybe next year or the one after that - oh, but more likely, your department will have to cut its budget by three, no make that five, no really let's cut that by 8% because there's no money - in fact, we may have to lay you off, so be glad you've still got a job. That's what too many county employees are hearing, that is what I expect they'll be hearing in the next budget go-'rounds, and THAT is the part that's truly disgraceful in this whole thing.

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