Retaining Government Workers More Complicated Than Throwing Money at Them

Top Biden administration officials, and even the president himself, are urging local leaders to use some of the billions in coronavirus relief funds they haven’t yet committed for pay raises and bonuses to get their employees to stick around through the pandemic.

However, few cities and counties are using relief funds on retention pay, even though officials say they are having trouble keeping law enforcement, health care and other workers.

While more may follow, county officials told Route Fifty that retaining workers is more complex than simply throwing money at them. Some said they have offered retention pay only to lose workers to larger counties and the private sector. And for cops and corrections officers, pay is only one factor amid the national fallout over the murder of George Floyd.

A joint effort by the National League of Cities, Brookings Metro and NACo examined how 104 large counties are using the relief dollars. Only 18 of the counties have spent or plan to use the funds to retain workers. The $140 million they have set aside is a tiny percentage of the money they have committed thus far.

Similarly, only five of 41 large cities studied have spent ARPA funds on premium pay for employees.

San Diego County is leading the way among counties, spending $36 million of its relief funds to give a one-time $2,500 payment to employees who work in detention centers, medical facilities and other settings with an increased risk of coronavirus exposure. The county also gave $1,500 bonuses to employees who have a smaller risk.

Some smaller counties are also spending relief funds on retention pay. Snohomish County, Washington gave $1,250 to its health workers, and Collier County, Florida gave each EMS worker a $2,000 bonus.

Nevertheless, localities mainly are using the relief dollars on other needs—most notably, keeping their governments running.

Counties and cities are using “a significant portion of funding” to replace the revenue they’re losing during the pandemic, according to the analysis by the NLC, NACo and Brookings. 

“This commitment indicates that in the early stages of the recovery, many cities and counties are first stabilizing operations, balancing budgets, and restoring service levels,” according to the analysis. 

The relief measure has helped counties weather the coronavirus, said NACo chief economist Teryn Zmuda. But, she added, “there are a lot of needs.” 

For example, Peoria County, Illinois’s board of supervisors focused $28 million of its $34.8 million in ARPA funds to fix and build county facilities, including creating a public health campus. It plans to spend the rest of its money on small business development, increasing the availability of broadband and addressing “social determinants of public health” including expanding housing, eliminating food deserts and providing child care.

But the challenges are wide and growing. Peoria County administrator Scott Sorrell said his county has tried giving corrections and law enforcement officers a raise. The county also flattened wage scales so that the officers can rise to receive higher pay more quickly.

Despite the retention pay, 18% of the county’s corrections positions are vacant.

“What it means is that those that are working are having to work lots of overtime,” he said. The county’s jails are seeing a spike of Covid cases every three months and one officer died.

Playing a role is the sweeping criminal justice reforms Illinois’ legislature passed last year. Among other things, the measure, which was opposed by law enforcement organizations, made it easier for officers to lose their state licenses to work in law enforcement and allowed citizens to make anonymous complaints against the officers.

That, combined with the negative attention towards police, has turned many off many potential candidates.

“No one wants to go into law enforcement right now,” Sorrel said.

Same Troubles for Other Departments

Susan Garnett, chief executive officer at My Health My Resources of Tarrant County, Texas, said the state raised the pay of health care workers, but is still having trouble being fully staffed, in part, because it is competing with private health systems.

Another obstacle counties face is employees can save money on costs like child care by not working, said Phyllis Randall, chair-at-large of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors in Virginia.

“People during the pandemic found they can cut their household spending. If they have at least one person stay home, they're not paying for child care, they're not paying for gas and not paying for clothes … ,” Randall said.

Some are starting to return to work because private employers but workers are returning to county jobs more slowly.“We know with county government is a little harder because we never keep up with what the private sector pays,” she said.

Randall said the county is considering giving employees a 3% raise. “But there's also a discussion for the first time about whether we want to do bonuses, either signing or retention bonuses,” she said.

But even if the county were to offer more money, it would face stiff competition for workers.

Randall said she drove by a Roy Rogers restaurant offering a $2,000 bonus for those willing to take a job.

“You know, when fast food restaurants are giving that kind of signing bonus, you know that it's a tight market,” she said.

Smaller counties may not have offered retention pay because they don’t think they can afford it long term. Sara Folsted, administrator of Rice County, Minnesota, said her county negotiated a three-year contract with its workers last year.

“Because of your resources and your size, you only have so much to try to be competitive for a benefit or a wage factor,” she said.

So, she said the county tries to be a good manager, “so people don’t go hopping to another job for a couple of extra dollars.”

Challenge From the President

Still, White House officials urged counties at a gathering of the National Association of Counties in Washington on Tuesday to spend the relief funds to keep workers. 

“I want to press you on whether we can do more,” Gene Sperling, special advisor to Biden and the administration’s coordinator of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act’s implementation. 

Biden also challenged the officials at the conference. “Put these funds to work to keep people on the job. Connect people to get better jobs. [Provide] retention bonuses for teachers and bus drivers,” Biden told the county officials during the NACo event.