RAEFORD – The Hoke County Board of Commissioners is looking to give back a little more to its employees this holiday season.
At its Nov. 12 regular business meeting, the board voted unanimously to increase the annual Christmas bonus for county employees.
“I’ve had a lot of phone calls from some of our employees all across the county asking if we could give them a little boost because of situations throughout the year,” said Vice Chair Harry Southerland. “However, we also just want to do this because of the hard work they’ve done throughout the year.”
Originally, the bonuses were going to be as follows:
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$500 for full-time permanent employees hired prior to June 30
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$300 for part-time permanent employees hired prior to June 30
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$100 for full and part-time employees hired from July 1 through Oct. 31
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$50 for seasonal employees working more than 300 hours and two seasons of sports in a fiscal year hired from July 1 through Oct. 31.
However, the commissioners decided to go ahead and raise the bonuses a little bit more.
“We have some real good employees and I think it’s a good way to show them our appreciation for what they do for us,” said Commissioner Bobby Wright.
Now, full-time employees will receive $600, part-time permanent employees will still receive $300, full and part-time employees hired from July 1 through Oct. 31 will receive $150 and seasonal employees will receive $100.
“I think throwing up another couple $100 will not affect our budget at all because we’re doing very well financially,” Southerland said. “This would show a great appreciation on behalf of the Board of Commissioners to our employees for an outstanding job throughout the year.”
Employees must have been employed by Nov. 1 to receive a bonus.
“See how hard we fight for our employees?” said Chairman James Leach. “It’s because we love them.”
The county will also hold a Christmas luncheon for county employees on Tuesday, Nov. 26 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the James A. Leach Aquatic Center.
“It went over really well,” said county manager Letitia Edens. “The employees really liked that. It gave them time to sit down in fellowship and it gave us time to bring the employees in and for them to take shifts to come in rather than us rushing them in and out if we did it that way.”
In addition, the board also approved the appointment of Chris Pusey as an extraterritorial jurisdiction member to the Raeford Planning Board and the appointments of Tomeka McLean, Nancy McCraney, Della Maynor and Warren Jones to the Senior Services Advisory Board.
The Hoke County Board of Commissioners will next meet Nov. 26.