Commissioners consider longevity pay

The Alamance County Board of Commissioners will decide Monday whether to restore cuts made to county employees longevity pay in fiscal 2013-14.

For fiscal 2014-15, the county commissioners eliminated the longevity pay program completely for county employees. Instead, about $500,000 was added to the base pay of employees who would have received longevity pay.

Employees longevity pay in December 2013 received a 55 percent cut based on a formula the county commissioners adopted. The approved 55 percent cut saved the county $613,447, which was placed in a contingency fund. The boards vote in 2013 was 3-2 to cut longevity pay by 55 percent.

In December 2012, $980,000 in longevity pay was distributed to county employees who had five years, 10 years, 15 years and 20 years of service. The county adopted the former longevity payment plan in April 2001.

Before the longevity pay cuts were made in 2013, the county conducted a study of other counties longevity pay programs. County Manager Craig Honeycutt said he plans to provide the board with updated information about other counties and what it would cost to restore the countys 55 percent cut.

County Human Resources Director Sherry Hook said she didnt believe a formal document was created and presented to the previous board with information based on the initial longevity pay study of other counties.

I remember that our longevity plan was a little more generous than those counties we reviewed, and I think thats all that we communicated to the board, Hook said.

COMMISSIONER LINDA Massey said she would like to see the 55 percent cut restored as soon as possible. Massey and former Commissioner Tom Manning voted against making the cut in 2013. She didnt believe the county treated its employees fairly when it made the cut then and that now is the time to restore it since the county could afford it.

Newly elected Commissioner Bob Byrd is also in favor of restoring the 55 percent cut now depending on Honeycutts report Monday. Byrd said he wanted to see the cut restored for this budget year only. Byrd said the issue should be revisited in the boards 2015-16 budget talks in conjunction with the results of the countys pay and classification study currently being conducted by the Piedmont Triad Regional Council. The study is projected to be completed by March.

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Commissioners consider longevity pay