MUNCIE, Ind. — After concerns were raised that a proposed appropriation from the American Rescue Plan for countywide salary bonuses wouldn't cover their actual cost — and after some Delaware County Council members said they didn't know exactly who would get what under the proposal — Delaware County Commissioner Shannon Henry asked council members to table the measure on Thursday. They did, unanimously.
The discussion of the bonuses during a special meeting of the council Thursday afternoon started with what attorney Joe Rhetts, who represented the commissioners office, said was good news.
Rhetts said the U.S. Treasury had issued final rulings Thursday on ARP spending that cleared the way for using the money for retention of public employees as long as the additional pay did not exceed a quarter of their current pay. The proposed bonuses would not approach that level. He said the federal government appeared to be taking a more lenient view of ARP spending.
Officials had also expressed concerns that the settlement of a grievance with UAW Local 321, representing correctional officers and merit deputies at the county sheriff's department, had become entangled with the ARP bonuses. Under a signed settlement in December, bonuses of $3,000 were to be paid out of the sheriff's department budget and given to former employees represented by the union who had left employment with the county prior to Jan. 1, 2020. Union members who maintained their employment through the pandemic to...
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