Editor’s note: AU employees who qualify will only be getting a $1,000 bonus, according to Christen Engels, vice president of communications and marketing, not $2,000, as The Augusta Press previously published. We regret the error and have corrected the story below to reflect the correct information.
Following Gov. Brian Kemp’s announcement of a one-time $1,000 for state workers who make less than $80,000, Augusta University President Brooks Keel promised AU employees would also receive the bonus for its employees.
To qualify, employees must make less than $80,000 a year, be full time employees and have worked for the institution at least since Feb. 22, 2021.
So, the workers at Augusta University who meet the requirements will get a bonus of $1,000 from the university. But, there is a little bit of a catch.
Where the catch comes in is where exactly Keel expects to get the money to fund the one-time bonus.
At first, it appeared that the money would come from the $70 million emergency fund budget the state provided to the University System of Georgia, but that is not the case.
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Instead, Keel told department heads that the bonus would come from their personal services budgets. That is, the budget already established for salaries and travel for the department.
Some departments are now finding themselves strained trying to locate thousands of dollars to cover the bonuses. Some departments may have to cover as much as $25,000 from their budgets.
The University will work to help the various departments avoid a shortfall, according to Christen Engels, vice president of communications and marketing.
“The state didn’t provide any funds to cover this projected expense,” Engels says. “Therefore, each department will be asked to absorb the cost with existing funds within their respective personal services. Most departments will have funds available to cover the expense with personal service lapse due to attrition and/or within their unexpended travel budgets.”
Engels says for those departments that encounter any budget issues with the unfunded mandate will have the money reimbursed through other funding available through the University.
Scott Hudson is the Editorial Page Editor of The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
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