Douglas Board Of Commissioners Approves Coronavirus Hazard Pay

DOUGLASVILLE, GA — The Douglas County Board of Commissioners voted 4-1 Tuesday to give the county’s first responders and frontline workers an extra $200 per pay period. The bump in pay is retroactive, starting on March 21 and ending on May 29.

Hazard pay will go to 557 employees, said Rick Martin, Douglas County director of communications. That includes sheriff’s office employees, 911 dispatchers, coroner’s employees, fire and EMS workers, animal-service workers and employees of the county landfill.

The final numbers were tweaked slightly from earlier discussions. The Douglas County Sentinel reported that Commission Chair Romona Jackson Jones originally had proposed the bonus extend from March 16 to May 15. Also, the bonus first proposed at an earlier work session would cover only 547 employees at a cost of about $530,000.

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The approved hazard pay will cost $541,000, with $337,158 coming out of the budget’s general fund, according to county administrator Mark Teal. The board voted to cap hazard pay — including what the county’s news release called “funding for the community who need help as a whole and health care equipment” — at $900,000.

Other nearby government entities, including Paulding County, Carroll County, Fulton County and Smyrna, also are offering hazard pay. Hazard pay for employees of the City of Douglasville will be discussed at a city council budget workshop on April 28.

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