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The amount the state gave state employees in merit-based bonuses and equity or retention payments more than doubled in the 2016 fiscal year, but the payments were barely more than half of what employees received three years ago, a State Journal analysis shows.

State agencies granted pay increases or one-time bonuses worth an estimated $9.7 million for 4,638 state employees — or about 15 percent of the state workforce — the State Journal found using data provided under the state’s open records law. Fiscal 2016 was the first year in which University of Wisconsin System employees were removed from the state’s civil service system.

The one-time merit-based bonus payments and retention or equity payments — some are built into the base pay and some come in one lump sum — are meant to reward job performance, to keep employees in their jobs or to bring their pay to equitable levels with their peers.

The number of awards in fiscal 2016 is up from 1,544 awards offered the previous year, during which Gov. Scott Walker suspended the payments to alleviate state budget troubles. At the time of the suspension, Walker said it was needed to balance a state budget that was facing a $283 million shortfall for that fiscal year. The state granted an estimated $3.7 million in special raises or bonuses that year.