More than 400 Washington County employees will likely receive some extra money before the holidays due to a “large accumulation” of nearly $500,000 resulting from the county treasurer’s office serving as a DMV Select office.
About 300 full-time and 115 part-time workers will receive bonuses if the county’s board of supervisors approves a request from county Treasurer Fred Parker to transfer $482,000 from the DMV fund in his budget to a county compensation fund. The transfer request is on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting.
Under the plan, full-time employees would receive $1,250, and those who work part time would get $625.
The money is available because Parker’s office has served as a DMV Select office since April 2004, with 80% of the money going to his office and 20% to the county. Under the program, local governments and private entities contract with the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles to provide some DMV transactions. Those services include vehicle title and registrations, license plates, permits and placards, and voter registration applications.
In an Oct. 10 letter to the board and County Administrator Jason Berry, Parker said he wants to share the money with county employees because “everyone has been hit hard due to the never ending Covid and the economic unrest of inflation.”
He said Thursday that it’s been a difficult few years for everyone and the bonuses are a way to share the money with workers in all county departments. He added that the DMV Select commission money has been used two or three times in the past to provide bonuses to county workers, though this would be the largest amounts they’ve received.
Employees would get the money in mid-November, he said.
To collect the bonuses, full-time employees must have been employed on or before July 1, 2024, and must still be an active employee on the date of the bonus check. Part-time employees must have been an employee on or before July 1, had to have worked between Sept. 1 and Oct. 15, and still be a current employee.
Tuesday’s meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. at the county government building at 1 Government Place in Abingdon.
