New policy to keep costs down in the future

COLUMBUS  —  Polk County is wiping the slate clean in what it owes to employees who have compensatory time to the tune of $275,000.

The Polk County Board of Commissioners met Monday and approved paying out comp time to its employees.

The most comp time comes from the sheriff’s office, which totals $205,721, including the sheriff’s office, jail and animal control.

Polk County Manager Marche Pittman explained that the Fair Labor and Standards Act requires the county to pay either overtime or compensatory time at a rate of 1.5 to 1 to non-exempt employees who work more than 40 hours per week.

“This system has been in place for at least 20 plus years,” Pittman said. “Some of our long-term employees have kept time on the books for many years. The system works, but it has resulted in large payouts mid-budget year for employees who decide to transition.”

Normally, comp time would be paid out to an employee when that employee is no longer employed and would come out of the individual department budget. Commissioners decided to use leftover surplus from last year’s budget to wipe the slate clean, since some employees have more than 500 hours in comp time alone.

“So, this has been a problem that has been going on for a long time,” Pittman said.

The comp time total as of Monday was $273,941.77. Pittman said by paying out the comp time now, the county will save money because, as of Jan. 1, the value of the comp time will increase by 5 percent, or $13,697, because of employee raises.

Pittman said newly elected Sheriff Tim Wright would inherit a pretty hefty comp time balance.

Commissioner Chair Tommy Melton said he agrees the county needs to pay out the balance.

“[Sheriff Wright] needs to start with a clean slate,” Melton said.

Commissioner Shane Bradley asked what the biggest reason is for the comp time, asking if the county needs more employees.

Pittman said too much comp time can be an indicator for the need for more positions, but because Polk County has had these numbers on the books for so long, he really cannot tell yet.

Moving forward, Pittman plans to meet biweekly with department heads to address comp time accruals to ensure the numbers do not grow beyond reason. Pittman said he plans to report to the board periodically to ensure there is progress being made.

Pittman also said the county will re-evaluate the comp time system in a year and present another recommendation if one is warranted.

“This will give the county department managers a clean slate opportunity to ensure that they are held accountable for managing the time of their employees,” Pittman said.