County Judge reaches payroll conclusion

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     Baxter County Judge Mickey Pendergrass has set up a method to correct an inadvertent error that resulted in 14 salaried employees being overpaid due to eight extra hours occuring in the leap year 2016.

     In a directive issued Thursday, he said the payroll department is to meet with each employee, agree on the overpayment amount and both sign an agreement of the number of times the money is to be withheld. The options available to those employees are witholdings from one to four pay periods until the total amount is repaid.

     Pendergrass recently vetoed the Quorum Court’s unanimous decision to withhold payment to 14 county employees. The court decided to split the overpayment in half and hold it back from each affected employee over the first two pay periods of the year. He noted, based on a report from Eddie Jones, a consultant with the Association of Arkansas Counties, the matter of wage and overpayment and recoupment of overpayment is primarily an executive department function. State law requires it to be part of the revenue for 2017 and cannot be put back into 2016.

     The only action needed to be taken by the Quorum Court is the approval of an appropriations ordinance, something the court had already planned to do. In the meantime, the Quorum Court has the power to override the veto with a three-fifths majority at the next regularly scheduled meeting.

     Pendergrass says if a signed agreement wasn’t put into place further action by the County would be required. He also says it’s important for employees to understand the issue was no fault of their own and the mistake highlights the reason for a Human Resources Manager position to be filled.


   




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