Thousands of city employees in Denver will see a $600 bonus, which the city council approved Monday amid a staffing shortage.
The new bonus is expected to cover 8,300 of the city’s roughly 11,000 employees, which will lead the government to spend about $6 million. The council measure is expected to cover 5,700 of the employees, with the Department of Human Services and the city’s airport handing out bonuses separately, according to Denverite. The funds will come from city savings that are stored up after the city failed to fill certain roles.
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“[The bonuses] are in appreciation for their dedication and service in 2022, when staffing shortages continued to impact departments and agencies across the city, often at the expense of the city workforce,” read the legislation from the city.
Other workers got hiring bonuses, double overtime pay, pay adjustments, and temporary retention bonuses due to the problems with staffing.
Budget Director Stephanie Karayannis Adams said the money that is being sent out would go unspent otherwise and not toward anything else.
“We’re confident that the dollars we’re talking about are not likely to be able to be spent, not because we don’t want to but because of the timing we have left in the fiscal year,” Adams said.
Full-time and part-time employees are eligible for the bonus, but those who were on call and worked less than 30 hours a week are not eligible, according to the outlet. Law enforcement officials and the fire department are also not eligible due to their own agreements that dictate pay and bonuses.
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Monday’s bonus is the second one that was approved by city lawmakers recently after Denver approved a $400 bonus last year for city employees that received the COVID-19 vaccine. Additional money was given to employees that worked in-person at least half the time.
The new bonuses are expected to go out on Friday and no later than Dec. 30. Additional funds will go out to residents across the state on Jan. 31, with $750 going to individual filers and $1,500 for joint filers.
