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Metro Council considers $270K proposal to remedy pandemic hazard pay fluke





The Davidson County Metropolitan Courthouse in Nashville Vivian Jones / Mainstreet Nashville

The Davidson County Metropolitan Courthouse in Nashville Vivian Jones / Mainstreet Nashville

Metro Council members are considering a proposal to provide more than a quarter-million dollars to repay Metro Government for $270,000 in excess payments made by mistake to Metro Parks employees for pandemic hazard duty.

Because of an error in Metro hazard pay administration late last year, 110 Metro Parks employees received more COVID-19 hazard pay than they were supposed to, according to Deputy Metro Finance Director Mary Jo Wiggins. Overpayments ranged from $245 to $4,000, with the average overpayment totaling $2,400.

In a recent Budget and Finance Committee meeting, Wiggins told council members that overpayments occurred when Metro approved all submitted employee work hours for hazard pay when only some of the hours worked met criteria to be eligible for hazard pay.

The finance department originally planned to ask employees to repay the overage, spreading out payments over time so that repayment would not impact their financial stability. In the past, Wiggins said, Metro has reclaimed overpayments like these to employees to correct mistakes.

 

 

Wiggins explained to council members that not correcting the overage would result in long-term financial consequences for Metro.

“This hazard pay is actually pensionable salary,” Wiggins told members of the council’s Budget and Finance Committee earlier this month. “This would increase their pension base, and therefore it would be an error that would continue to have an impact for Metro. … It really would create an increase in pension payments in the future.”

In a five-hour Metro Council meeting Tuesday evening, council members advanced a proposal that would allocate $270,000 from Metro’s general fund to cover the cost of the overpayments so that employees will not have to pay back the money paid by Metro in error. The proposal now goes to committee for consideration.

“It’s not fair for us to put the onus or put the burden on people that were not at fault, that did not ask for it,” council member Sandra Sepulveda said. “They didn’t do anything wrong.”

Councilman-At-Large Steve Glover argued that while it’s not fair to ask parks employees to repay the overpayments to Metro, it’s also not fair to force taxpayers to foot the bill for Metro’s error — particularly after Metro approved a property tax increase of 34%-37% in June.

Forgiving the overpayments as the resolution proposes puts Metro employees above residents of Nashville who continue to struggle during the pandemic, Glover argued.

“We’ve had numerous people who have lost their jobs, that are losing their apartments, losing their homes,” he said during the meeting.

In contrast, no Metro Government employees were furloughed or laid off during pandemic shutdowns.

“That wasn’t a handout — we didn’t pay them to do nothing,” council member Delishia Porterfield said during the debate. “They were still working. They worked during the pandemic.”

Porterfield noted that while many businesses and facilities closed due to the pandemic and pandemic regulations, Metro Parks and Greenways remained open.

“We can’t continue to say that we support employees, but then we vote against them every time we get a chance,” Porterfield said.

Council members debated how to be most fair to lower-wage parks employees who would struggle to repay the $2,400 sum and to the taxpayers who ultimately would foot the bill for Metro’s error.

Ultimately, the proposal passed first reading in a vote of 38-1, with council member Thom Druffel abstaining. Glover cast the only opposing vote.

“For anybody in the private sector who’s lost their job, voting this resolution down will not bring those jobs back,” council member Dave Rosenberg said. “We have the opportunity to do some good here, and we should take advantage of that opportunity.”

Council members took up the hazard pay proposal after spending nearly three hours in debate over whether to confirm former Vice Mayor Dr. Sheri Weiner to the Fair Commissioners Board and Michelle Robertson to the Hospital Authority. The women, both white, were nominated by Mayor John Cooper.

Members of the minority caucus strongly objected to the lack of diversity and demanded to delay confirmation until more racially diverse nominees could be considered. Council members also objected to Robertson’s role as chief operating officer at Ascension Saint Thomas as a conflict of interest.

After voting down motions to delay, council members ultimately confirmed both nominees.

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