Two years after promising to develop rules for handing out employee bonuses, Jefferson County still has no written guidelines, and the amount paid to workers beyond their salaries has risen by more than 700 percent in just four years.
The county’s top managers are taking home both the biggest bonuses and the biggest percentage increase in raises. The 57 government workers earning more than $100,000 over the past year received average pay boosts of 3.5 percent this year. Employees making more than $30,000 a year saw their pay edge up only 1.5 percent.
County officials said they expect to complete a new pay and bonus plan by the end of the summer that will include specific pay classifications and objective bonus standards.
“We do not have a good system, and it’s not very consistent. We’re changing that,” said Jim Moore, the county administrator, who said the county wants to implement a new plan in 2010. “It’s better for the employees to have the same standards.”
County officials made the same pledge two years ago but now say that a series of problems, including a year-long compensation study that didn’t pan out, delayed the rulemaking process.
Jeffco’s lack of procedures for awarding bonuses that can be more than $5,000 contrasts with Denver, the most populous county in the state. There, administrators at three different levels must sign off on bonuses, and the county follows rigorous evaluation criteria.
In Jeffco, a review of the county salaries and other pay information shows:
• The county spent $544,648 on bonuses from 2007 through 2008, with the top officials getting most of the largest ones. The $280,843 paid out last year was a 760 percent increase from 2004.
• Three of four department heads earning $125,000 a year or more received $10,000 each in bonuses over the past two years — in addition to annual $5,100 car allowances.
• The health and environment department in 2007 handed out 76 bonuses of $1,594.67 apiece — a total of more than $120,000 a year. Almost all 76 people also got pay raises.
• The county assessor gave three appraisers bonuses of $3,000 to $4,000 each year from 2004 through 2008.
• The county spent $171,474 on car allowances for 15 “executive” employees from 2006 through 2008. Most of those workers received $5,100 a year with no requirement that they use it to purchase or lease a car with any benefit to their job.
• Between 2004 and 2009, the 49 county employees who earned $100,000 or more received an average pay raise of 26.5 percent over the period, compared with 18.6 percent for workers earning over $30,000 during the same time frame.
Todd Leopold, administrative services director, said his own comparison of salaries for employees who stayed in the same job over the past four years shows they got an average pay raise of 3.6 percent a year. Leopold said he believes that is a more valid comparison of county salaries. He did not do a comparison of those who made over $100,000 a year in 2009 and those who made over $30,000 because he said the figures could change as employees go through annual reviews later this year.
The car allowances, said spokeswoman Kathryn Heider, are cost-effective in lieu of an employee having a car assigned to them or receiving mileage reimbursements.
Bonuses “uncommon”
County officials said that they have consolidated departments to save money on top officials and that some of the bigger raises and bonuses went to employees who took on greater responsibilities. The term “bonus” in Jefferson County includes not only pure bonuses but pay for additional duties while filling a vacancy or a lump sum in lieu of an increase in salary. The latter is a way of rewarding an employee’s performance without adding to the county’s retirement and payroll costs, Leopold said.
The county said it was fine-tuning its accounting system two years ago in order to better track bonuses and separate them from other payments, but that has not yet happened.
It’s “very uncommon” for counties to award bonuses, said Larry Kallenberger, executive director of Colorado Counties Inc. In Jefferson County, the nine elected officials have discretion to award bonuses — and to a certain extent pay raises — however they wish as long as they stay within the money allotted to their departments for that purpose. One employee may get $5,000 while another worker gets nothing. There are no written criteria.
The cash handed out in the past two years is the same amount the county paid during the five years of 2002 through 2006.
Scandal led to study
The county’s bonus system came under fire in 2007 after former county Treasurer Mark Paschall was accused of offering a top aide a $25,000 bonus and then asking her to split the money with him. He was later acquitted of charges related to the bonus. At the time, county officials said they were immediately considering overhauling their nonexistent policy.
Leopold said the county hired a firm to conduct a compensation study in 2005 but the company failed to produce it. The county had to hire another firm and start over. The results are expected within the next few months.
County Commissioner Kathy Hartman proposed eliminating the bonus system — except in situations where the bonus was in place of a raise — two years ago. However, she said her motion was shot down by the elected officials personnel board.
“I think historically, bonuses have tended to accrue to higher-level employees who report directly to, or near to, the person with bonus authority,” Hartman said. “Exceptional employees who are low-ranking rarely get bonuses because their work is not seen by the person with bonus authority.”
Commissioner Kevin McCasky said the compensation study will help the county make decisions about pay and the challenge of recruiting and retaining good employees.
Commissioner Faye Griffin said she would like to see more “standardization of both bonuses and pay.”
Some other local governments in the state give out bonuses and performance-based pay raises. But in Denver, for instance, individuals are judged by strict criteria on performance-based raises, and bonuses are usually awarded more for team-oriented projects that have specific, measurable goals, said spokeswoman Sue Cobb.
The mayor signs off on the projects ahead of time. Last year, 83 percent of Denver employees received bonuses, with the maximum usually in the $900 to $1,200 range.
Bonuses are not being awarded this year in Denver as a cost-saving measure during the recession.
Karen Crummy: 303-954-1594 or kcrummy@denverpost.com
