County eliminates hiring and retention bonuses

A Washington County hiring and retention bonus policy was rescinded by the Washington County Commissioners on Monday, April 14.

 Saying he hasn’t seen any particular increase in applicants in his office, Washington County Sheriff Matt Thomas told the governing board he thought it was time to rescind or suspend the bonus offers that were implemented beginning with the county’s 2023 fiscal year.

 “I’m not getting any more applications than I was before, and I can’t afford to keep paying it,” Thomas said. “I have people that I’ll continue to pay up to the three years we agreed to when we hired them, but my budget can’t sustain it. I don’t know about the other agencies or departments, but mine can’t.”

 In the room and waiting for his weekly time slot on the commissioners’ agenda, County Road and Bridge Department Supervisor Jerod Odoms said he believed he and Thomas likely represented the two largest budgets in the county.

 “The sheriff and I have the most amount of turnover, and it’s a hit to the budget, but my concern when I saw it on the agenda, I still have offers out there I need to continue to pay off, so I don’t think we need to just cut the money,” Odoms said. “But I agree with Matt, I don’t see the benefit.”

 Odoms added he hasn’t offered the hiring bonus in the current budget year.

 Washington County Clerk Donna White said she has 12 employees in her office, and had just received 13 applications for a recent job posting.

 “I had several very good applicants, but the qualifications are totally different than what these guys need,” White said. “But, I’m  just saying when I put it out there that’s how many applications I received.”

 Even though the governing board thought they might need a week to check in with the county’s other department heads, it turned out they were all represented either in person or on the Zoom link that morning. Weed Department Supervisor Bonnie Davis said she has just one hiring bonus payment left for one employee, with no current job openings in the department.

 White verified with the Signal American, the county’s policy was adopted and funded by county tax dollars. Retention bonuses were set for two years and expired at the end of the 2024 fiscal year, and hiring bonuses were set for three years, with the policy due to expire this year.

 Prior to the county’s policy, during the Covid pandemic, some federal funding had been made available for hiring and retention purposes, but White said it was for first responders only, and had come with some restrictions.

 “We applied for what we could, but that was before the county’s policy was put into place,” she said. 

 Explaining the three-year hiring bonuses, White said new full-time employees were offered $3,000 total to be divided and paid annually over a three-year period. Full-time lateral hires were offered the option of a $5,000 bonus with payments over three years, or they could choose $3,000 and 80 hours paid vacation time available in the first year of employment.

 White said retention bonuses were set up to be paid one-half in each of two years, with $1,000 total for full-time employees. She said 37½-hour per week new hires received $900 total, and those working 25-hours a week or less received $500 total.

 “I kind of thought about this a little bit,” Thomas said. “If we hit a point we can’t hire anybody again, and this has worked with some of my people that are already certified, because that first year they could either take the bonus or 80 hours of vacation. They seemed to like that 80 hours vacation up front, so maybe that’s something we could look at if we need to address this again.”

 Commissioner Nate Marvin moved to freeze the hiring and retention bonus policy until further notice, with Gordon Wilkerson offering a second, and the board voting unanimously in favor.