Blog note: see editorial in the article below.
A typo will cost county taxpayers more than $260,000 by 2023, the Shasta County Grand Jury found in its investigation into a loyalty bonus paid to longtime employees.
The 5 percent bonus, or longevity stipend, goes to appointed employees who work at least 20 years.
But when Board of Supervisors adopted the ordinance in 2008 as an incentive to retain employees, someone forgot to put in the word "appointed."
So last year, Treasurer Lori Scott, who's put in more than 20 years for the county, wondered where her longevity bonus was. The supervisors checked the ordinance and didn't see where elected officials were excluded, so voted on a round of wage increases for Sheriff Tom Bosenko and Scott — retroactive to 2009. Three more elected officials are also lined up to receive the stipend in the coming years. In all, the elected officials will reap a collective $263,089 in the bonuses by 2023.
The Shasta County Grand Jury in a report issued Tuesday said the county needs to not only proof its ordinances better before voting on them, it needs to quickly change the ordinance to exclude elected officials starting in 2018.
County Executive Officer Larry Lees said he will take the Grand Jury report to the Board of Supervisors to address the recommendations.
"This is a big concern," Lees said. "We have a certain time period to respond. I will be looking for direction from the board of supervisors."
Besides Bosenko and Scott, three other elected officials could be in line for the stipend if the ordinance isn't change. They are Assessor Dolores Leslie Morgan, County Clerk Catherine Darling Allen and Supervisor David Kehoe.
Kehoe said even if the county offered him a loyalty bonus, he would refuse it on the grounds that elected officials should not be given that type of incentive.
"Giving politicians a longevity bonus is the most egregious example of legislative wrongheadedness," said Kehoe.
Bosenko feels differently and can add time working as an employee to his time as sheriff to reach more than enough years to qualify for the bonus. Before being elected sheriff for the first time in 2006, he worked for the Shasta County Sheriff's Office. Altogether, he's been a part of the Sheriff's Office for 37 years. He said Tuesday that the county counsel justified him getting the longevity stipend last year retroactive to 2009, and at no time was there any talk of excluding elected officials from the stipends.
"I'm an elected official and I'm honored to serve the citizens of Shasta County," Bosenko said.
The Grand Jury report recommends the board rewrite the ordinance to remove elected officials from receiving the benefit and suggests all stipends for elected officials end at the conclusion of their terms in office or Dec. 31, 2018, whichever comes first.
The issue divided the board when it decided to give the longevity stipends to Bosenko and Scott. The board voted 2-3 to remove elected officials. Supervisor Les Baugh, Bill Schappell and Pam Giacomini voted against terminating the stipend for elected officials. Kehoe and Leonard Moty voted to remove elected officials from the benefit.
April 19, 2016
Record Searchlight
By Nathan Solis
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