SANDPOINT — Bonner County commissioners are pausing a decision to pay employees for hours accrued after their paid time off/catastrophic hours limit has been reached, following concerns raised by the county’s auditor's office that the financial proposal could prove costly.  

The discussion will be brought forth in two weeks to allow the auditor’s office time to conduct an in-depth review of the implications of the payout proposal, as well as communicate with each affected department and give time to address staffing and policy concerns. 

Comptroller Jessica Stephany read a memorandum letter submitted to the commissioners citing concern over the May 26 decision. Stephany said the decision to pay out accrued PTO/CAT hours past the capped amount had not been reviewed by the auditor’s office and could cause “substantial financial implications” due to the policy change.  

“The auditing office would like to note that this proposal was not reviewed through auditing before board approval, despite the direct and substantial financial implications associated with policy change,” Stephany read. "Current county practice and internal procedures require departments and elected offices to coordinate with auditing before presenting any proposal, memo or resolution involving financial impacts to the Board of County Commissioners. This process exists to ensure adequate fiscal review, liability analysis, accounting treatment review, and long-term budget impact evaluation prior to approval.” 

The auditing office requested commissioners to evaluate alternative operational approaches focusing on leave management, scheduling expectations, and utilization practices, according to the memorandum. 

Stephany shared at the recent meeting that frustration came from a lack of consistency with the particular action item. If a department brings forth an action item to the board without approval from auditing, Stephany said, commissioners require the department to go back to auditing and obtain approval/denial before bringing forth the item again.   

“Every other department comes here, and if auditing hasn’t signed off on the memo, the board, as a whole, typically kicks it back and says ‘no, you need to sit down, we need to know what this is.’ In this particular circumstance, that didn’t happen,” Stephany said.   

The memorandum suggested PTO cash-outs under the approved policy would cost the county approximately $12,000 to $20,000 per pay period, or $330,000 to $500,000 annually. The estimates do not account for payroll tax impacts, increased retirement contribution costs or potential future expansion of practice, among other things, according to the document.   

Stephany further presented that the CAT leave structure was to prevent employees from losing earned leave once the standard PTO accrual cap has been reached. She also shared that the issue of lost PTO/CAT wasn’t widespread across the county, but only in a small group of supervisory and management-level employees.   

“It was not intended to create an ongoing supplemental compensation mechanism through routine leave payouts while employees continue accruing leave at maximum thresholds,” the memorandum said.   

After the memorandum reading, Commissioner Asia Williams, who presented the original action item last week, refuted claims that the auditor’s office had not received notification of the suggested action item. She stated it was sent to Clerk Mike Rosedale on May 21, three business days before the county’s business meeting.  

To add items to the May 26 meeting agenda, documents must be received by 3 p.m. May 19, with commissioners given additional time to add agenda items until the meeting packet has been completed.    

Receipt of the email was a debate during last week’s meeting when Williams said she received no response from the auditing or legal department about her suggestion to pay out PTO/CAT hours past the limit. Rosedale spoke during that meeting to indicate the county’s comptroller had not received anything.  

Williams corrected herself at that meeting to share that the email had been sent to Rosedale on May 21. 

She further went on to explain the proposed agenda item, which was later approved unanimously by Commissioner Brian Domke and Williams, citing the effect of “losing” paid time off has caused an increase in overtime pay, where individuals at their capped PTO/CAT take time off to not lose their benefit, resulting in a co-worker working overtime to cover the applicable shift needed if it occurs in an understaffed department. This issue, said Williams, is most notable at the county jail, but is applicable to all county employees who have reached their PTO or CAT limit.