Fulton hands out $3.9 million in employee bonuses

By Johnny Edwards

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

For the second year in a row, Fulton County will give employees across the board pay increases, a rarity for government workers during dour economic times.

The county commission voted Wednesday to spend $3.9 million this year on so-called temporary raises -- effectively bonuses spread out over 26 paychecks and ending in 2013. The pay bumps will go to all county employees earning $59,452 per year or less.

The decision comes as some elected officials warn that a tax hike is inevitable in coming years if spending isn't reined in, and it's sure to chafe the county's critics who accuse the government of bloat. Many were outraged last year when the commission voted to tap into reserves and give 2 percent raises to all workers earning $40,000 per year or less, costing about $2.4 million on an annual basis.

This year's budget process started with talk of laying off dozens of workers, and at one point, Northside Commissioner Tom Lowe proposed a 5.8 percent tax rate hike. Wednesday's vote to hand out bonuses followed the board's approval of a $602.6 million general fund budget, which won't raise countywide taxes but uses reserves to plug an $82.1 million shortfall, leaving the rainy day fund at $50.3 million.

"It's blatantly illogical to give out money that they don't have," said Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation Executive Director Barbara Payne, whose group called on the county to forgo the bonuses. "It's absolutely sending the wrong message to taxpayers."

The one-time raises were first proposed by Vice Chair Emma Darnell and Commissioner Bill Edwards, who wanted $3.9 million withheld from Grady Memorial Hospital over contract noncompliance to go to county workers. The board voted to pay Grady anyway, then instructed the county manager to find the same amount for raises.

Edwards called it "the right thing to do." The head of the local employees union said there are single mothers on the low end of the pay scale who qualify for food stamps.

Originally, the money was to go only to workers in non-supervisory positions, but Edwards accepted Commissioner Joan Garner's proposal that the raises go to all employees earning less than $59,452. An equal share will go to each affected employee, amounting to less than $100 extra per month per employee.

The vote was 4-2, with Lowe and Robb Pitts opposed and Liz Hausmann not voting.

Under the old plan, each employee would have received just under $1,200 a piece throughout the year. Budget Manager Hakeem Oshikoya said late Wednesday that he had not yet calculated what each employee will get under the new parameters.

"Let's just face it," said Greg Fann, executive director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, "if it's less than $100 per month, it's going in their gas tanks, and it will help put food on the table, too."

Other metro counties haven't given out pay increases in years.

Cobb workers last received them in 2008, and last year they took five furlough days. DeKalb and Gwinnett employees haven't seen raises since 2009.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, however, said in November that about 450 city employees would get pay increases from an $800,000 fund set aside for that purpose, averaging about $1,780 extra per employee. Earlier in his administration, police and firefighters, as well as other employees earning less than $70,000, received raises or bonuses.