Utah taxpayer money given as bonus for government employees

SALT LAKE CITY — A KSL 5 investigation revealed that just over $300,000 of taxpayer money was distributed as bonuses to employees at five Utah state agencies in 2013.

Under the state of Utah's human resources rules government agencies are allowed to distribute monetary awards to employees. State government workers can get monetary awards for a variety of reasons including going the "extra mile" in their duties, saving taxpayer dollars and having skills that are tough to recruit. Such bonuses are awarded at the discretion of each agency and are based on available funds.

After receiving a viewer tip about a large number of bonuses at the Utah Attorney General's Office, the KSL investigative team dug into the 2013 budget numbers for incentive award programs at five state agencies and discovered differences in how the money was divided up and who gets the largest amounts.

Utah Attorney General's Office

The Utah Attorney General's Office provided its list of bonuses which showed that 96 financial incentives were given in 2013 that ranged from $50 to $4,000. The office spent a total $74,861 in taxpayer dollars on bonuses. A closer look at who received the bulk of the bonus money revealed that out of the approximately 425 employees, about 50 percent of those given bonuses were attorneys. The attorneys also received the biggest benefits. Attorneys for the Attorney General's office received 61 percent of the bonus money and more often it was the attorneys who received the largest payments of $2,000 bonuses, $3,000 bonuses and up to $4,000.

The list didn't indicate why the bonuses were awarded. Former Utah lawmaker, David Irvine, who now works with Utahns for Ethical Government, said the lack of explanation raises concern.

"Is it just because it's the end of the year and we like this person?" Irvine said.

Neither the current Attorney General's Office administration, nor the former Attorney General would grant KSL TV an on camera interview to explain the bonus program in more detail. However, KSL did receive emails explaining how the program worked.

Former Attorney General John Swallow explained that bonuses were issued in accordance with policy and given to those who performed in extraordinary fashion. Former Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, whose term ended in January 2013, said bonuses are authorized by state law and on his watch were paid by reducing office expenses and distributed to those who went above and beyond.

The current administration said while the 2013 bonuses were issued before Attorney General Sean Reyes took office, protocols are under review and Mr. Reyes will implement systems that encourage excellence throughout the office.

Irvine said he agrees that awards can enhance morale and encourage a good work ethic. However, he said weighting rewards toward employees whose salaries and benefits already climb into the six figure range is a concern.

"The question for me is where is the money going and who are the principle recipients of the benefit. If a boss can use this kind of program to build morale among the troops as opposed to among the colonels, then hooray for that boss," Irvine said.

Utah Department of CommerceAt the Utah Department of Commerce, they investigate everything from consumer complaints to investment fraud. In 2013, this agency awarded monetary bonuses to 36 of 241 employees. The bonuses ranged from $150 to $1,000 for taking on additional duties to solving wasteful spending practices.

This agency spent a total of $17,750 of taxpayer money on bonuses in 2013, giving 11 percent to managers or supervisors, 25 percent to investigators, and 64 percent to secretaries and office staff. The agency director told KSL TV her philosophy is to award support personnel most often because they're on the front lines.

Utah Department of Transportation

The Utah Department of Transportation clears and fixes state roads. This agency said it uses its incentive program to reward employees who cut costs, develop innovated practices, go above and beyond and as an incentive to help retain the most qualified workers.

When it comes to spending Utah tax dollars, the agency awarded 56 of 1,600 employees last year. Seven high level managers collected the majority or 66 percent of the bonus money. UDOT gave $18,500 to managers and $9,500 was divvied up among 49 other employees.

Department of Workforce Services

In 2013, the Department of Workforce Services issued $129,811 in employee bonuses. The state agency that processes unemployment benefits awarded financial incentives to 1,100 of its 1,800 employees in 2013.

Spokesmen Nic Dunn said the bonuses were given because "This is a way to keep quality state employees."

This agency's top bonuses ranged from $500 to $1,440 and were awarded to 13 employees for saving taxpayers more than $1 million in agency expenses.

"We feel strongly the return on investment we're seeing from incentivizing this good work and keeping these quality employees here is having a direct impact on those customers, those citizens that we serve," Dunn said.

He added many of the incentive rewards were in the neighborhood of $100 and frequently given to employees who work in customer service.

Department of Public Safety

Under the new commissioner for public safety, the department said it does not plan to continue distributing financial incentives to employees. In the fiscal year 2012 to 2013, the agency gave $68,869 to 114 employees. Eleven of the top 15 financial bonuses were given to supervisors or managers and ranged from $1,000 to $2,000.

A spokesperson for the department issued the following statement:

"The Utah Department of Public Safety issued incentive awards in 2012-2013 to employees for exceptional effort and significant contributions at improving operational programs and processes."

The Utahns for Ethical Government encourages agencies to spread discretionary bonuses evenly. Representatives said taxpayers are best served by discretionary incentive programs that don't tilt in favor of higher salaried government workers.

"Are they people at the top end of the salary scale? Or are they people below middle management who are really the people on whose backs the work of the agency goes forward?" Irvine said. "I'd be a lot more impressed with the managerial chops of the supervisors and managers if they're spreading that out among the troops than among the officers."

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