TIMES UNION REPORTS – The only action taken by the Kosciusko County Commissioners Tuesday was the approval of the extension of the county’s COVID-19 sick leave policy.
Commissioner Cary Groninger said he and County Auditor Michelle Puckett have been working on the details of the county’s COVID-19 sick leave policy, which expired June 30.
“Our policy expired after we had extended it for six months,” Groninger said. “Pretty much, this was a policy that would allow those people who tested positive for COVID, or if they were taking care of someone else under their care at home, they could get paid for that time that they were on leave from work.”
He said they worked through some policies and found another opportunity “that we’re able to get reimbursed for some of those costs, so we’re going to look into being able to extend those” until Sept. 30. “So we’re looking to reinstate those back to when the others expire, so July 1 up to September 30.”
Puckett said currently there is a federal tax credit that they believe the county can qualify for to assist with the COVID pay for employees.
“When we file for this tax credit, we’re receiving between 85 and 90% of those employee wages returned to us in the form of that federal tax credit,” she said. “In the form of this federal tax credit, we are able to apply for the reimbursement of up to 90% for those wages we’re paying employees. So that has been extended until Sept. 30.”
She said her office is working on amending the county’s quarter 1 and quarter 2 federal tax returns so the county can receive that reimbursement.
“And it is rather substantial because we did have a lot of employees that utilized that time in quarter 1 and quarter 2. So since it has extended to Sept. 30, if you guys would like, we could reinstate that time to cover July 1 through Sept. 30,” Puckett said.
She said they have no idea if that time will be extended again.
“I think everything is up in the air. Things change daily, but we will keep an eye on that to see if it does get extended, even past Sept. 30,” she said.
Groninger made a motion to extend the county’s employee COVID sick leave, going back to July 1 through Sept. 30. “When this one expires, maybe we can take it up again at the end of September and see if there’s any extensions that’s been allowed,” he said.
Commissioner Brad Jackson seconded the motion, and then Puckett had one additional thing to add.
“We are going, and I’m working with (Human Resources), to identify employees who utilized their own personal time to be off from July 1 to current. So, if there are employees that were out through July, August, that used their personal vacation time, comp time, sick time, once this has passed, we would basically go back and reinstate their own personal time that they used up to that 10 days that the policy passed through,” she said.
Groninger’s motion was approved 3-0.
County Surveyor Mike Kissinger later asked a question about the policy.
“That 10 days goes clear back to the beginning of … ?” he asked.
Groninger said it “actually reinstates the additional 10 days.” Puckett said, “After the Jan. 1. So, in 2020, the 10 days were mandated by the federal government, so that was a requirement. That mandate was released 12/31/20, so the optional days started Jan. 1 because we chose to continue that leave for our employees, so that’s when the 10 days, I believe, starts with this option.”
Groninger asked, “So if they used the 10 days prior to January 1 of this year, they get an additional 10 days this year. But if they’ve already used 10 days in 2021, they don’t get an additional 10 days.”
Commissioner Bob Conley said it was 20 days total, from Jan. 1, 2020, to Jan. 1, 2021, to Sept. 30, 2021.
In another matter, Groninger said the county received two bids Tuesday morning on the engineering for the Justice Building parking lot. He said they were lesser amounts so they didn’t require a public opening. The bids were taken under advisement and awarded at the Commissioners’ next meeting, Sept. 14.
