by Jim Moore, County Administrator

The headline on the front page of Sunday’s Denver Post – “Jeffco Pay Still Untamed” – and the follow-up editorial and subsequent news story had an interesting perspective on Jeffco’s employee compensation. I would like to offer some additional insight and facts about the “bonus” subject.

The term “bonus” is especially volatile and emotional given recent national coverage of AIG and other firms receiving federal bailouts. While it makes for some great headlines, to infer that our bonuses are similar to those that have engendered national outrage would be inaccurate. We have a very different definition and use of "bonus" here at Jeffco. Most “bonuses” given to Jeffco employees have been in lieu of base pay increases.

The vast majority of people I’ve talked to would prefer a base pay increase to a bonus, as the base pay increases “carry forward” in future years, making the salary higher, and more likely to grow each year. A "bonus" as we use the term, is just a one-time reward payment, as compared to a percentage increase of base pay. Bonuses and raises are used to recognize and reward employee performance. With the exception of public safety employees, most organizations consider this a far more effective way of recognizing good work than giving cost of living increases or annual step increases based largely on tenure in a position.

Omitted from the Post stories was the fact that our accounting practices lump several types of payments into one budget line item called “bonus." Something coming from the "bonus" line item can be things like a one-time lump sum payment to an employee who has temporarily taken on the responsibilities of a vacant management position while it is being filled. That has recently been changed, and going forward, these different types of payments will be recorded separately in our accounting systems. So, next year if a follow-up story is written, a more accurate picture will be possible.

The Sunday story reported a 700 percent increase in money spent on bonuses from 2004 to 2008. While it sounds astronomical to casual readers, in real numbers it was an increase from $33,768 to $280,843.

Although all this talk of bonuses gets complicated and convoluted, it is important to point out that the average pay increase countywide for Jefferson County employees over the last five years was 4.0 percent. The average pay increase for managers at the division or department head level countywide over the last five years was 3.2 percent. Jefferson County’s total gross amount expended for salaries in 2008 was $156.6 million, while the amount given in bonuses, lump sum payments and acting pay was $280,843. That amounted to 0.18 percent of the total gross wages last year.

At first glance, these figures appear to be at odds with those presented by the Denver Post, but they are not. The figures presented by the Post are also accurate. This is a great example of how different messages can be taken from the same facts depending on how they are presented, and further illustrates the need for open and transparent government.

The importance of our Transparent Jeffco feature on our Web site has never been so obvious, and we are working behind the scenes every day to increase and improve the user friendliness of the information presented on Transparent Jeffco. As we further develop Transparent Jeffco, we will continue to make complete and accurate information available to our citizens. Our hope is that by doing so, citizens will gain a better understanding of the challenges of public service and will continue to appreciate the outstanding job that Jefferson County employees perform in service to our community.