Members of Charleston City Council on Sept. 8 moved forward a proposal to use $5 million from the city’s general fund reserve to pay for merit bonuses for employees across various city departments.
“We’ve been talking about this since Covid,” said council member Keith Waring. “We’re finally getting to the action step on this.”
Charleston Mayor William Cogswell brought the proposed bonuses to the council’s Ways and Means Committee meeting. He said the goal of the bonuses, which would apparently go to all employees at varying rates, would be to raise morale and show the city’s dedication to its workers. The city has 1,900 employees.
“It’s something that I think will make a big difference to folks, particularly those on the lower edge of the salary range in our city that oftentimes do the hardest work,” he told the committee of the whole.
Bonus breakdown
The city’s department leaders recently conducted sweeping performance reviews of all employees, ranking them on a 1-2-3 scale, Cogswell said. The size of the bonus each employee receives will vary based on those reviews. It was unclear if council members and the mayor are included.
“The overwhelming majority of our employees ranked in the 2s and 3s,” Cogswell said. “If you scored a 2 or 3, you’ll get some portion of a bonus. It’s kind of pro-rated. … There is a formula to it based on the reports that have already been done.”
The one-time bonuses come amid ongoing efforts to increase employee pay to match market rates based on a study completed about two years ago, Cogswell said. He added council members and members of the public should expect to see more year-over-year salary increases in future budgets.
The funds to pay for the merit bonuses will come from leftover monies from 2025 that the city retains for emergency and discretionary use. Cogswell said he hoped to make annual bonuses more commonplace, but couldn’t promise what funds would be available next year.
Pay now to save later
Council member Karl Brady praised the idea of merit bonuses, saying employee retention is important and fiscally responsible. Cogswell agreed.
“Turnover is incredibly expensive,” Cogswell said. “Anything we can do now to show our appreciation to the folks that work here and keep them in line with ever-increasing market pressures, I think we need to do. It’s just a smart economic move.
“The cost of losing an employee, hiring a new one, retraining them, is incredibly expensive,” he added. “It’s a burden that’s put on us that is always a line item in our budget.”
Other issues persist
Meanwhile, council members continue to face ongoing pressure from advocates and organizations regarding the city’s controversial First Amendment ordinance.
The ordinance, passed in 2021 to balance public safety with free speech, has drawn growing concerns and criticisms from the community. Critics spoke in July and Sept. 8 saying the ordinance unreasonably restricts public demonstrations. They’ve also called for the ordinance to be reviewed or repealed.
Since then, council members have grown more open to the idea, and the city is now evaluating possible changes to the ordinance through its Public Safety Committee. The issue was last taken up at its Aug. 27 meeting.
Until changes are made, however, organizers said they would continue to make their voices heard, as more than a dozen spoke out at the Sept. 8 council meeting against the burdens caused by ordinance.
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