Some Tulsa County Employees To Get Bonuses

NewsOn6.com

TULSA, OK -- Many employees of Tulsa County will be getting a bonus just in time for Christmas, based on their years of service.

The Tulsa County commissioners Monday morning unanimously approved a one-time longevity pay plan.

County leaders say they modeled their plan after the one used by the state of Oklahoma, except that the Tulsa County's bonuses top out at 20 years of service.

Under the plan, Tulsa County employees who have worked at least two years but fewer than four will receive a $250 bonus.

The amounts go up from there in two-year increments, with employees who have at least 20 years of uninterrupted service to the county receiving $2,000.

The bonuses will be paid during the first week of December.

The longevity pay plan is part of Tulsa County's attempt to address what officials say is the County's relatively low pay scale.  It will cover about 400 of the county's 1,500 employees.  It will not cover the county's elected officials or the employees who work directly for them.  It also excludes the Tulsa County Juvenile Bureau, since county leaders consider those employees to be state workers.

The plan will cost Tulsa County $385,500.  Most of the money will come from the office of County Treasurer Dennis Semler, who was a state employee when he worked as a Tulsa County prosecutor and is familiar with the state's longevity pay plan.