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Prince Edward County’s Board of Supervisors voted Wednesday, Dec. 23, to give one-time bonuses to all county employees — $1,000 for full-time employees and officers and $500 for part-time employees.

“County employees have rendered a high level of service to the citizens of Prince Edward County during the COVID-19 pandemic that began in March of this year,” County Administrator Doug Stanley said. “In recognition of the efforts and risks county employees have faced during these difficult economic and environmental times, it was proposed that a one-time payment of ‘acknowledgement pay’ or ‘hazard pay,’ as appropriate, be made to eligible employees and officers in December of 2020.”

A memo from Stanley said that at its Dec. 8 meeting, the board authorized advertising a one-time acknowledgement pay, or bonus, for non-hazardous duty employees and officers and hazard pay for hazardous duty employees.

“The amounts discussed by the board were $1,000 for full-time employees and officers and $500 for part-time employees,” Stanley said. “In order to accomplish this, funding for the acknowledgment pay for non-hazardous duty employees will come from the county’s general fund, from the social services fund and the Piedmont Court Services Fund.”

He noted $81,814 will come from the general fund, and this amount can come from money already in the budget that was designated for potential salary increases.

He said $8,074 in non-county funds will come from the Piedmont Court Services Fund.

“Funding for the hazard pay will come from state funds received from the Compensation Board and CARES Act funding,” he said.

The Compensation Board will provide $11,303, and $19,377 will come from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. This CARES Act allocation has already been authorized by the Board of Supervisors.

The total of the aforementioned funds involved in providing the bonuses for county employees is $120,568.

“Please note, those numbers do not include the employees of the Department of Social Services (DSS),” Stanley said. “Funding for DSS employees will come from the DSS budget, which is managed by the DSS board.”

No one spoke in opposition to the bonuses, and the board voted 7-0 to approve them and to approve the accompanying fiscal year 2021 budget amendment.

Farmville 101 District Supervisor Beverly Booth abstained from voting because her husband is a county employee with the Prince Edward County Sheriff’s Office.