A Kootenai County commissioner is crying foul about $32,322 in employee bonuses handed out in the final days of the 2019 budget year to offices overseen by County Clerk Jim Brannon.

The bonuses went to employees in district court and the recorder’s and auditor’s offices. They ranged from $100 to $2,500 each and were announced at the end of September. The county’s new fiscal year started Oct. 1.

The funds to pay for the bonuses came from “salary salvage,” which is money allocated for budgeted positions that are vacant, said Dena Darrow, finance director with the county auditor’s office.

“The county does not budget for bonuses,” Darrow said. “The bonuses are paid with spare funds from the base salary budgets, meaning the county did not plan for bonuses; rather, they were awarded with salary-salvage funds because of existing staff working to maintain service levels despite being short-staffed.”

For fiscal 2019, the county paid a total of $88,958 in bonuses to 209 employees, an average of $425.64. Not all the bonuses were paid in the 11th hour. Some bonuses were paid earlier, including $50 holiday bonuses.

The bonuses paid in fiscal 2019 exceeded the bonuses paid the year before by more than a factor of four. In fiscal 2018, county employees received $19,204 in bonuses, Darrow said.

Commissioner Bill Brooks said salary salvage is budget fat that should go back into general fund or the county’s fund balance instead of for bonuses.

He also questioned the timing of the bonuses within Brannon’s departments and the dollar amount.

The $32,322 in benefits authorized by Brannon equals 36.3% of the $88,958 in county employee bonuses for fiscal 2019. Kootenai County has 839 employees and Brannon oversees roughly 95 workers, or 12% of the county workforce.

“When I see money handed out to select employees in a quick, willy-nilly fashion that should go back to taxpayers, it concerns me,” Brooks said.

Bonuses outside protocol

County Commissioner Chris Fillios said the way Brannon and other officials awarded the bonuses did not follow county policy.

A legal opinion issued previously to commissioners states all compensation and wages, including bonuses, must be authorized by commissioners, who have final say in all county budgetary matters, Fillios said.

“But there has been a practice developed over recent years allowing elected officials to provide bonuses using salvage funds,” he said.

Moving forward, Fillios said, elected officials will be made aware that commissioners have authority over all funds for compensation — including salary salvage used for bonuses.

There is precedent going back several years that underscores commissioners’ ultimate authority over all compensation matters.

During a meeting of the county’s elected officials in 2013, then-commissioner Dan Green explained that the primary focus of commissioners during the budget process is employee compensation. He said elected officials circumvent the process by awarding additional bonuses based on salvage salary funds.

At that time, Green and then-commissioner Jai Nelson agreed that they would be open to the idea of bonuses using salvage dollars, but only if the elected official wishing to bestow bonuses receives approval from commissioners.

Going back further, former chief deputy county clerk Pat Raffee asked in 2011 if bonuses were legal under Idaho code. A county civil deputy prosecuting attorney responded that bonuses are legal but must be budgeted through commissioners.

“We need to address this now, absolutely,” Fillios said last week.

Brannon backs bonuses

Brannon defended his employee bonuses, saying his departments saved money through staff attrition.

He said pay inequities have resulted in vacancies that have been difficult to fill, sometimes for several months, which generates salary salvage and stretches employees thin.

“We have a lot of people doing exemplary work,” Brannon said.

The clerk added that bonuses can be an effective retention tool as many county employees earn less than their counterparts in other municipalities.

Brooks acknowledged the fine work done by county employees but said a closer look needs to be given on how to reward that work.

“Our employees are paid well, and they deserve to be,” the commissioner said. “We should be giving them regular cost-of-living adjustments and tightening the reins on salvage funds.”

When elected officials use their discretion over funds that are not monitored by commissioners, Brooks said taxpayers are left in the dark.

“Things should be clear and plain and up front for the public to see and I don’t think that’s happening now,” he said.

Commissioner Leslie Duncan said the issue is bigger than the expenditure of salary salvage spending.

A recent wage study conducted by the county, Duncan said, showed many county employees are paid far below market averages when compared with municipalities in the region.

“I can understand if elected officials are saying my people are underpaid so I want to see what I can do by way of bonuses to make sure good employees who work hard stay with the county,” Duncan said.

She added she would like to address the “bigger picture” on pay inequities and bonuses during the next budget process.

“We need to look at it in a broader perspective of compensation as a whole,” she said. “Moving forward I want to identify the fairest way to compensate employees. I plan on having big input on this discussion and the policy of bonuses.”