By FRED SWIFT
The Hamilton County Reporter has learned that officials of the county’s four cities will consider extra pay for essential municipal employees who worked during the COVID-19 pandemic, thereby risking their own health.
This follows county officials’ decision to grant extra pay to essential county employees who had to work during the health crisis. Checks of up to $3,000 will go out on May 21 to several hundred county employees.
Cities and towns also received millions of dollars in COVID relief funds from the federal government. Many municipal employees will apparently be paid extra compensation for potentially hazardous duty although amounts may differ from what the county is granting.
Decisions must be made fairly quickly because the federal guidelines provide that money must be given by May 27 in an effort to get more money into the economy sooner than later.
There is also a $13-per-hour limit on the pay rate that local government may give in extra wages during the pandemic period.
Many other uses for the money are allowed including reimbursing departments of local government for lost revenue because of the pandemic. Funds can also be granted to non-profit charitable organizations and even small businesses who lost potential revenue.
But, local governments cannot use the money for capital projects. County government was granted $65.5 million while cities got as much as $20 million for Carmel, the county’s largest city, and $14 million for Noblesville.