Barton handbook may soon reflect recession: County will consider change to base benefits on its budgetary needs

Like many organizations around the state, Barton County officials responded to the current budget crisis by limiting wage increases and cutting back on certain employee benefits for the upcoming fiscal year.

Officials there, however, are looking at going even a step further, changing the county's employee handbook to make certain benefit payments less automatic.

"They are changes based on the financial needs of the county," explained Barton County Administrator Richard Boeckman.

The Barton County Commission was scheduled to take up the proposed handbook changes earlier this week but lacked a quorum because of illness. It may be several weeks now, Boeckman said, before they are taken up again.

When the county adopted its budget in early August, it included no employee pay raises for 2010, a switch in insurance providers that meant higher premiums for some, and a decision not to fund longevity pay for one year.

Other budget decisions, Boeckman said, included a minimum 5 percent cut in expenses for every department, allowing the county to cut its property tax mill levy by 0.9 of a mill.

"The commissioners wanted to be responsible with county dollars," the administrator said. "This was not a year to do pay raises with the state of the economy."

It's a concern for the 2011 budget, however, Boeckman said, that prompted county leaders to propose changing the wording in employee policies.

For both longevity pay and performance pay, Boeckman is proposing to add a line to the handbook noting they will "be paid based on budgetary needs."

Longevity is an extra payment employees receive after working for a county for a specific period of time. In Barton County, 70-plus miles northwest of Reno County, employees are eligible after five years.

"This gives the option not to pay it if, once we do the budget, we determine there is inadequate money in the budget," Boeckman said. "If we can afford it, we'll pay it. If we can't afford it, we won't."

Many counties have eliminated longevity pay altogether. Reno County did so several years ago, said Renee Harris, Human Resources director for Reno County and president-elect of the Kansas County Human Resource Association.

But Barton County is the first place she's heard of, Harris said, to put such language in its policy handbook.

Barton County's performance pay is an annual merit raise for those employees who have topped out on the county's pay scale. It's paid in an annual lump sum, rather than as a wage increase, Boeckman said.

Besides the "available funding" caveat, the policy change will also move all performance pay evaluations to the beginning of the year, instead of on an employee's anniversary date. That will allow the county to budget raises more accurately, Boeckman said.

One other proposed handbook change not directly related to funding is related to sick leave.

Under the county's current policy, if an employee is out for five or more consecutive days, the department head over that position can require a statement in writing from the employee's physician that it's a legitimate medical reason.

The new policy would allow such an inquiry for frequent but intermittent absences, Boeckman said. The policy doesn't specify a number of days absent, but it can be fewer than five.

While changes to the policy may make the commissioners more comfortable in making such decisions, they are not necessary in order to take actions such as wage changes, said Randal Allen, executive director of the Kansas Association of Counties.

"I don't think a personnel policy is intended to be a contract," Allen said. "In my view, any time an organization is unable to make a payment, even if provided for in a personnel policy and procedural manual, they don't have to do so. There is no guarantee of anything. It's just like a furlough. Though everyone has a pay range and salary amount, there's nothing that precludes a county from initiating a furlough to stay within budget."