Cheyenne City Councilman Defends Employee Bonuses

Cheyenne City Councilman Dicky Shanor is defending a recent resolution to give city employees a one-time bonus.

The council at a meeting last week approved taking ten percent of $1.8 million in left-over city money and using ten percent of it to give full time and permanent part-time city employees a one-time bonus.

Shanor says it will be a roughly $240 one-time bonus.

He says one reason for the bonus is to counter the typical government mindset that if an agency doesn't use all of their money, they are penalized by having their budget cut the next year. ''There is no reason for any bureaucrat to return money to us for fear of having their budget cut in the future" Shanor said.

The bonus, on the other hand, rewards city employees for conserving money, according to Shanor. ''Putting this type of incentive in place means we have the potential of saving more and more money as the city moves forward," Shanor said Monday on KGAB radio.

Councilman Pete Laybourne was the only no vote on the proposal last week. The council did, however, reject a proposal to increase the amount of the money to be used for the bonuses from 10 percent to 14 percent.

That amendment, offered by Councilman Mike Luna, was voted down by a 7-3 margin.