News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Bonuses did not go through for DeKalb County employees as two commissioners voted no, and five were absent.
DeKalb County Commissioner Bruce Malone was one of two “no” votes for county employee premium pay.
Malone said that he has several reasons for his vote, including the decision being made too rashly and with disregard for the American Rescue Plan’s original funding. Malone said that he was also concerned because rescue squad employees and highway department employees were left out of the raises.
“Those people certainly deserve some sort of premium pay but you know $400,000 is a whole lot of money,” Malone said. “And $400,000 for 280 employees is not doing the most good for the most people.”
Malone said he is not against the bonuses for county employees but thinks the money should be spent in other ways, such as potable water for the parts of the county that need it.
Malone said that another concern that played into his no vote was that the county hadn’t received its second $1.9 million in ARP funds. Malone said that with $750,000 spent on cable and broadband expansion, and over $300,000 to match for a new health department, $300,000 obligated to a new fire station, the money for the stipend would have to come out of the county’s general fund.
“And that’s a fact,” Malone said. “So basically my no vote was looking out for the county. And this vote can be brought up in a different way, at a different meeting. So I don’t see what the hurry is. We’ve got a four-year period to spend this money. So I don’t know why this was brought up on Thursday and why we have to spend this on the next Monday night.”
