'Pandemic' overtime pay cost Westmoreland County nearly $700K in 1st 2 weeks

Westmoreland County paid $678,000 in overtime wages to more than 1,200 employees for nearly two weeks of work in late March during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

Commissioners instituted “pandemic” pay for staff required to report in person for work at the courthouse and in other county offices March 18-27 after services were scaled back as local officials looked to reduce traffic in government offices amid the virus outbreak.

An analysis of the overtime expenses completed Monday by the county controller’s office found about two-thirds of the money — $462,000 — went to workers in four departments: Westmoreland Manor, the jail, 911 dispatch center and the children’s bureau. Each of those departments operates around the clock.

Overtime costs included additional wages of employees who reported to work at least one day during the pandemic pay period.

All county employees were paid during the first three weeks of reduced government functions, including staff who worked from home or were off the job. The county had nearly 1,900 workers on the payroll prior to this week.

The total amount paid to all employees was unknown Monday, as county officials said they do not have the staff to run a full report.

“I voted to approve the pandemic pay policy several weeks ago, before the number of covid-19 cases in our county had reached double digits and before the new pieces of coronavirus legislation were passed,” Commissioner Doug Chew said. “At that time, I agreed that it was important to be consistent among some of our union contracts and the other groups at the county, both union and nonunion. I was overly optimistic in thinking that a short stay-at-home time would rid us of this viral scourge, and we’d be back to work by now.”

Deputy Controller Rege Garris said $276,000 of the overtime costs were paid from the county’s general fund for day-to-day operations. The remaining costs were taken from state reimbursements, which mitigates the impact the additional wages are expected to have on the county’s budget, officials said.

Commissioners said they will seek to recoup the overtime costs from money allocated through the federal stimulus package enacted late last month.

“Obviously, the big expense is why we couldn’t continue to pay overtime wages. At this point, we don’t know how long the pandemic will last,” Commissioner Gina Cerilli said.

All pandemic-related overtime costs were eliminated at the start of last week. Furloughs of 475 government employees started this week. Job cuts impacted every department and included four secretaries furloughed from the commissioners’ office, according to Commissioner Sean Kertes.

There is no estimate yet as to what impact the furloughs will have on the county’s $341 million budget.

“We instituted these furloughs for our employees’ and residents’ safety, but we hope this will save some money,” Kertes said.

Furloughs will continue through at least the end of April as essential county services will continue to operate with reduced staff, he said.

“We are waiting to see what the governor does and will base our decision on that,” Kertes said. “I am 100% confident the county will continue to provide needed services.”