Rogers council approves bonuses

Money for city workers to come from American Rescue Plan funds

ROGERS — City Council members on Tuesday voted 7-1 to spend $1.7 million in American Rescue Plan funds on bonuses for employees who worked through the covid-19 pandemic.

They also unanimously voted against giving elected city officials a $1,500 bonus from the same fund.

The city will receive $11.7 million from the American Rescue Plan, according to Mayor Greg Hines. The resolution to give employees a bonus is the first major apportionment from the funds, he said.

There are no specific projects planned for the rest of the money, although Hines said he’s talked about ways to partner with the water and sewer departments to expand capacity for the downtown area and east side of the city.

Under the resolution, police officers will receive a $3,000 bonus, firefighters will receive $1,000, civilian fulltime employees will receive $1,500, and civilian part-time employees will receive $750.

Firefighters already were paid $2,000 in 2020 from the state and federal covid-19 Ambulance Worker Payment Grant. The larger bonuses for police officers will give emergency responders in the city an equal amount of $3,000, he said.

All of the bonuses will be prorated by the amount of time employees worked between April 1, 2020, and Sept. 28, 2021, the period when Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s emergency orders were in place, said Thomas Dunlap, city human resources director.

The money will be spent as lost revenue rather than premium pay because there are fewer federal guidelines and stipulations, said Casey Wilhelm, finance director. The city is allowed to calculate all of the revenue it received over the past five years, assuming a 4.5% growth rate, and compare it to 2020, she said. According to the formula, the city lost

$1.7 million, she said.

If the money were spent as premium pay, the city could not give bonuses in a lump sum; the pay would have to be attached to an hourly rate, and remote workers would not be allowed to receive a bonus, Wilhelm said.

Hines said he developed a proposal recognizing all employees because nobody escaped work-related stress during the pandemic. It’s easy to argue that public safety employees should receive a bigger bonus because of the additional risk of infection they faced, he said.

Council members Mark Kruger, Gary Townzen, Marge Wolf, Clay Kendall, April Legere, Barney Hayes and Betsy Reithemeyer voted in favor of the resolution. Mandy Brashear voted against it.

Kendall said he felt good about rewarding employees who continued to work through the pandemic, especially when so many businesses were facing a shortage of employees.

Brashear said she “hugely” appreciates city employees and was glad to see the council recognize how hard they have worked, but added she lacked the information to make an informed decision on the issue and has questions on the city’s overall spending plan for the American Rescue Plan money.

All council members agreed they were uncomfortable receiving bonuses for serving through the pandemic.

Wilhelm said it would cost approximately $18,000 to give elected officials a $1,500 bonus.

Kruger said council members were elected to handle the job, whatever that may be.

“There have been other things that have come up, none as big as this — ice storms, floods, controversial issues,” he said. “I just feel like we knew what we were signing up for when we did and I’m not comfortable with it.”