Woodstock employees to get Christmas bonus despite weak economy

Woodstock officials aren’t letting a bad economy get in the way of a good holiday tradition.

They’re still planning on putting a little something extra in city employee paychecks this month, City Manager Jeff Moon said.

The amount varies, depending on how long the employee has been with the city and whether he or she is a full-time or part-time employee.

The most any employee will receive is $300. The least is $62.50 for part-timers who were hired after Jan. 4, Moon said.

Woodstock officials aren’t the only ones in the holiday spirit. Cherokee County officials are considering offering Shop Cherokee certificates to their employees, County Manager Jerry Cooper said.

The county would give $50 certificates to full-time employees and $25 certificates to part-time workers, Cooper said. The cost of the certificates this year totals $64,785, he said.

The 40 employees of Holly Springs also may have a holiday gift coming their way, thanks to the volunteer Founders’ Day Committee, said City Manager Robert T. Rokovitz.

The committee, which manages and hosts most of the city’s events, takes money from its budget and it gives it to the mayor and council to dole out to employees as “a monetary performance incentive at the end of the year — at Christmas time,” Rokovitz said.

“In the past, this amount has been $100 per employee,” he said.

Woodstock doesn’t call the extra money a Christmas bonus, Moon said. Instead, it’s classified as “additional compensation for services rendered” and should be in employees’ hands before Dec. 25, he said.

The total cost for the city will be less than $60,000 — including the extra that has to go for the employees’ Social Security benefits, Moon said.