City Council reforms bonus process

The $800,000 in bonuses and cash awards handed out by former Mayor Kasim Reed near the end of his term in 2017 violated city law and the state constitution. So did employee bonuses provided that same year by members of Atlanta City Council, and Reed’s human resources commissioner.

On Monday, the council passed legislation to try to bring the process of awarding employee bonuses into compliance with city ordinances and the state gratuities law, which says governments can not give away money and must receive “substantial” public benefit in return for expenditures.

The new ordinance says that guidelines and eligibility criteria will be established that will allow the mayor and council members to select bonus recipients, and that the criteria must be “based upon a defined benefit to the public.”

But the ordinance itself doesn’t establish those criteria, leaving that job to a mayoral representative and individual council members.

It is unclear whether the criteria established by the various elected or appointed officials will comply with the gratuities law, which says bonuses must be given prospectively and not as a reward for past performance.