Golden – Jefferson County officials have handed out more than $544,000 in bonuses to county workers since 2002.
Of that amount, about $353,000 were “true bonuses” – pay for no defined reason – according to a Denver Post review of county documents.
The county’s generous bonuses – unusual among Colorado governments – have become controversial since former county treasurer Mark Paschall was indicted in January for allegedly offering a top aide a $25,000 bonus and then asking her to split the money with him.
The aide refused the bonus, and the incident raised questions about the use of bonuses, because the county faces $12 million to $15 million in budget cuts in 2008.
The amount of bonuses passed out to 361 employees over five years had never been documented before.
The county’s accounting system, officials say, hasn’t been able to track bonuses apart from payouts such as retroactive pay, relocation reimbursement, pay for extra work or lump-sum payments instead of raises.
In the wake of the Paschall scandal, that is changing, with the county fine- tuning the accounting system and considering a policy on bonuses as early as next month.
“I am uncomfortable with bonuses for public employees,” new Commissioner Kathy Hartman said.
The issue was the most frequent topic of her e-mail from constituents after Paschall’s indictment.
“This is public-service work,” Hartman added. “If they don’t have a personal pride in their work and personal pride to providing services to the citizens, then they’re working for the wrong employer.”
The critical thing, Hartman said, “is to ensure county workers are being paid fairly,” which an overdue market salary survey should address.
Commissioner Jim Congrove said it’s not appropriate to give a bonus “to somebody who’s just doing their regular job.”
“We have some very good, dedicated employees” who deserve bonuses, Congrove said, such as the county snowplow drivers and airport workers who toiled long hours this winter.
Bonuses vary by locale
Commissioner Kevin McCas ky, who favors giving managers flexibility with incentives, said bonuses “can be an effective way of paying for performance, although there are obvious limits and reasonability.”
A system with “a stand-alone category of what is a strict bonus is the first step to ensure we can watch what is happening,” McCasky said.
Few counties give bonuses, said Larry Kallenberger, executive director of Colorado Counties Inc. “And if they do, they are very small ones,” he said.
Denver gives bonuses based on meeting goals, and Arapahoe County provides bonuses for exceptional performance.
Bestowing bonuses has been up to each of Jefferson County’s nine elected officials to decide based on their budgets, which are set by the Board of County Commissioners.
District Attorney Scott Storey, who took office in 2005, said his predecessor, Dave Thomas, gave payments each year in place of pay raises to longtime employees who hit the top of salary ranges and were ineligible for routine hikes.
Early last year, Storey said he changed the policy to adjust pay based on the market.
Faye Griffin, who recently was elected treasurer after serving eight years as clerk, distributed more than $194,000 from 2002 to 2006 – ranging from $150 to $400 annually to each of the 134 clerk and recorder employees.
“This department has some of the lowest-paid employees in the county,” Griffin said, “and the highest volume of customer contact.”
Staff writer Ann Schrader can be reached at 303-278-3217 or aschrader@denverpost.com.
