Mayor Butch Berry said policies have been revised to clarify that city employees cannot choose between taking vacation time or getting a cash payout. The city paid out $53,494 to two former department heads who retired in late 2014 and 2015. Berry said he has taken the steps to make sure employees don’t use vacation time as a way to earn extra income.
“No one ever thought people were going to accumulate these and then charge for them,” Berry said. “When I became aware of this issue early in my term as mayor, I changed the policy so vacation time could not be carried over 200 hours and that all vacation time had to be taken or they would lose it. There is no choice to get paid extra. Vacation time is not to be treated as bonuses. It is not to be treated as extra income. It is not to be used as a savings account. The hours are to be taken as vacation for the employees.”
Finance Director Lonnie Clark said the only two retiring employees who drew substantial amounts were former Police Chief Earl Hyatt, who received a check for $39,461.61 in January 2015, and former Fire Chief Rhys Williams, who received a check for $14,032 in December 2014. The two retired within a couple of months of each other. Both had been supervised by former Mayor Morris Pate.
Berry said it wasn’t written in the city employee policy handbook that employees could receive a cash payment in lieu of vacation time.
“I think it was an assumption that previous mayors had been doing,” Berry said. “As the administrator of the city, I was able to make changes to make sure this doesn’t happen again. To prevent this from happening, we don’t allow 600 or 800 hours of vacation time to accumulate. That is a logical solution.”
The current city handbook says: “Employees will use their vacation time each year. Vacation days may not be accumulated and transferred to subsequent years without approval of the department head. An employee may work their vacation time and be compensated for it only in very unusual circumstances when the department head is unable to schedule vacation leave for the employee. Advance planning should prevent this need. Compensation under this form shall require approval of the Mayor’s office upon a written request from the employee and the department head.”
There is no record of a written request from the employees involved. Clark said there are no letters, just memos approving vacation carryover signed by Pate on the anniversary dates of employment for Hyatt and Williams.
“When they retired, the payments were for vacation and sick leave combined,” Clark said. “In Rhys’s case, his pay was computed according to the handbook and applicable state law. The amount was coded to the applicable expense in the financials and the budget was adjusted at year’s end according to normal procedures and the final year end budget was approved by council. In Chief Hyatt’s case, his pay was computed according to the handbook and applicable state law and was budgeted, since we knew in advance, and the budget was approved by council.”
The payouts came prior to belt tightening at the city. Earlier this year Berry instituted a hiring and spending freeze on all nonoperational essential expenditures due to cash flow problems.
“We have been running tight on our budget for several years,” Berry said. “This [vacation pay] was just taking more out of the general fund.”
Berry said clarification of vacation policies would be included in the new Personnel Policy Handbook.
“We are asking all the departments to review their policies and come back and make changes,” Berry said. “Approval of the new Personnel Policy Handbook has to be taken up by city council.”
Clark said the number of days of vacation received depend on how long the employee has worked for the city. In the case of Williams and Hyatt, they received 240 hours (six weeks) of vacation time annually. Clark said the amount of vacation time is set by state law.
“It is not just us giving them this cushy deal,” Clark said. “The state mandates it, so we have to comply.”
Police and fire department employees who have been employed one to four years receive 120 hours of vacation pay annually, and from five to nine years, 160 hours. For ten or more years, they get 200 hours of vacation time annually. Police and fire chiefs get an additional 40 hours annually.
Clark said police and fire employees’ vacation time starts to accrue when they go to work, and can be taken when it is approved by the police or fire chief. Other personnel start to accrue vacation when they start to work, but can’t take it until they have worked a year.
Non-uniformed, non-commissioned, full-time employees receive 80 hours of vacation time for one to four years of employment; five to nine year, 120 hours; and ten or more years, 160 hours. Exempt non-uniformed public employees with one to four years continuous service receive 120 hours of vacation; five to nine years, 160 hours; and ten or more years, 200 hours.
According to state code, law enforcement officers accumulate 20 days of sick leave per year beginning one year after the date of employment. “If unused, sick leave shall accumulate to a maximum of 60 days unless the city or town, by ordinance, authorizes the accumulation of a greater amount, in no event to exceed a maximum accumulation of 90 days, except for the purpose of computing years of service for retirement purposes.”