GROVETON — Trinity County Commissioners Court is considering implementing a policy regarding comp time to keep the coffers from taking a hit when accrued time is paid out to resigning employees.
At the March 24 meeting, Commissioner Tommy Park said that he asked for this to be considered to put the county in a better fiscal position instead of having to pay out a large lump sum.
“All counties around have a comp time policy in place that puts a cap on the amount that can be accrued while stating that comp time must be used within that fiscal year,” he said. “Should it hit a stated threshold, then the county has to pay it out.”
Park said that if the cap were set at 120 hours, that would be the most that could be carried over to another fiscal year, and any accrued comp time above that would be paid out at the end of the pay period or the end of the year.
County Treasurer Orrin Hargrave said that while the county currently operates in a similar fashion, other smaller counties operate with the cap because they want less of a liability to roll over year to year. Some counties want comp time used within 120 days to not have any accrual.
The policy also would dictate that comp time be used before vacation time; Hargrave said it would force comp time balances to come down. “It would mean we would pay more in overtime, but there would not be large accruals to pay out,” he said.
Commissioner Neal Smith pointed out that at one point when a new sheriff came on board, a lot of deputies left and the county had to pay out $93,000 in accrued comp and vacation time.
Commissioner Mike Loftin said a good policy is good business; however, the matter was tabled.
In other business, the county:
