Augusta city workers will have a $15 minimum wage, and citizens who get the COVID-19 vaccine will also get a $100 incentive for doing so following the Aug. 19 Richmond County Commission meeting.
The commission will pay for the measures with a portion of the $82.3 million payment to the city from the American Rescue Plan.
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The vaccine incentive payment is only available to people who have not already had the shot. There was no discussion on how the money will be distributed or whether an ID will be required along with proof of vaccination.
The commission also improved a $500,000 allocation to “partnering agencies.” The Department of Health will receive $50 per vaccinated individual to cover record keeping and overtime pay costs.
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Other agencies will receive funding for education and outreach.
The spending plan, produced by City Administrator Odie Donald, calls for $2,500 bonuses to full-time public safety employees and $1,250 bonuses for part-time employees. Full-time employees would receive $500 bonuses and part-time personnel, $250.
The total of the one-time payments, including $747,274 for COVID-19 vacation payouts, would be $4.6 million.
Recurring costs through 2021 total $1.96 million, which includes implementing the $15 per hour minimum wage for all employees beginning Sept. 10, and $700,202 to address salary compression, which means that hourly workers will be getting a raise to compensate in scale with the raise of the minimum wage.
The total 2021 projected cost of one-time bonuses and increased salaries is $6.56 million.
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Two commissioners, John Clarke of District 10 and Catherine Smith-McKnight of District 3, supported the pay raises but not the vaccine incentive and asked that separate votes be held on each item.
“I think it’s also sad that when we have to tempt people and offer them a mere $100 to save their life. It’s kind of placing a low value on life. Once again, I want everybody to be vaccinated,” Clarke said. “I don’t like the way this item is frame-worked. You vote for all of it, or you vote for none of it.”
McKnight agreed and said by lumping the vaccine incentives in along with the pay raises meant that she would be forced to vote no on the entire package.
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“I definitely support this $15 per hour minimum. Absolutely. But this hundred dollars, I can’t vote for that. These are entirely two different items lumped together as one. So it puts us in a situation where the citizens of Augusta say, ‘Why didn’t you support?’ Well, I did support the $15 per hour. But yet, I didn’t support the other part. So it kind of puts us in a tough situation here,” McKnight said.
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McKnight’s motion to separate the items failed, and a motion by Ben Hasan, District 8, to accept the entire package passed on a 6 – 2 vote. Due to requirements by the Georgia Open Meeting Act, Sammie Sias and Brandon Garrett, Districts 4 and 8 respectively, were not allowed to participate in the vote via telephone.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com. Sylvia Cooper is a Columnist with The Augusta Press. Reach her at sylvia.cooper@theaugustapress.com.
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