BALLSTON SPA – A group of elected county supervisors are angry over an incentive that ensures county employees, including the sheriff and county administrator, are being paid time-and-a-half for every hour they work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Several on the 23-member county Board of Supervisors the Times Union interviewed Monday said that the weekly top cost of an extra $325,000 for essential employees is "unsustainable" and "tone-deaf."

Clifton Park Supervisor Jonathan Schopf, an attorney who laid off his secretary, said at a county meeting last week that many people are losing their jobs while the county is giving employees a 50 percent raise. He said any additional spending should be going toward hiring in the county’s public health department. The pay bump was discussed at the Board of Supervisors meeting last week. But now he, as well as other supervisors, are demanding a review of the plan this week.

“I will not support this moving forward,” Schopf said on Monday. “I support our employees, but I also support fiscal responsibility.”

Moreau Supervisor Todd Kusnierz agreed saying the county "can't go around spending money like we are printing it in the basement."

Saratoga County Administrator Spencer Hellwig said that 380 people are being paid time-and-a-half for every hour they work. Employees being paid the new rate are mainly from the sheriff's office and the department of public health and social services. Hellwig said he too is getting time-and-a-half as are all upper management: Sheriff Michael Zurlo, the Public Health Director Cathi Duncan, Emergency Services Director Carl Zeilman and other department heads because they "are the backbone of everything the county is doing to manage this pandemic."

When asked if other counties are paying workers more during the pandemic, Rensselaer County said it is not "at this time." Schenectady County Attorney Chris Gardner said his county is not giving employees extra compensation, "at this juncture. Though we are currently evaluating it."

Saratoga County's time and a half is on top of the county's $1 million pandemic package that the Board of Supervisors approved last week. That money, drawn from the fund balance, was to be divided up with $150,000 going to additional regular wages at the public health department, $11,475 to social security and $838,525 for departmental supplies. The resolution also noted that the Incident Command Team can order meals on the county's credit card. The card's limit was raised from $15,000 to $50,000 because the team will be in "operation for several months."

Saratoga Springs Supervisor Tara Gaston said that the time-and-a-half plan was put into practice "without my input or knowledge. It was discussed by the board - but the decision was made prior to our voting on the ($1 million) resolution."

The supervisors said that Board of Supervisors Chairman Preston Allen initiated the plan for additional wages to ensure people come to work, and not call in sick, during the pandemic. When reached on Monday, Allen said he couldn’t hear the Times Union's questions about pay over his home land line. The Times Union then emailed Allen. He did not respond to the emailed questions.

In draft meeting minutes the county posted, Allen said that as county departments close, the weekly $325,000 cost for the additional wages will drop. But he also said “there is no way to predict how long this will continue.” Allen's son, Preston Jr., works for the county Department of Public Works. It's unclear if he benefits from the pay bump.

Hellwig said the county is also hiring more essential employees because "the trajectory of the pandemic is for numbers to increase exponentially. This means the only way the number of staff needed to manage the pandemic goes down is if they test positive or are too sick from other ailments to continue. This is why we are currently hiring additional staff to prepare for that inevitability."

Hellwig also said the additional costs can be "managed within the 2020 adopted budget without an appropriation of fund balance."

Even though many of the supervisors said they were unaware of the plan's particulars, they were thanked for it at last week's meeting. In the draft minutes, CSEA union President Scott Brackett said he was grateful for the board for “their proactive measures.” Ryan Mahan, the road patrol union president with the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office, told the board “he appreciated the work that was being done.” Julie Bosley, speaking for county employees, said as a mother of two young children, “these actions are noticed and very much appreciated.”

One supervisor the Times Union spoke with said it was difficult to rail against the measure after hearing from the trio, one of whom teared up. He also said the county shouldn’t promise employees something and then take it away, upsetting employees in already upsetting times.

But Kusnierz said it's unacceptable that the county would spend this kind of money.

"It's very challenging for me. I have a blue collar community," Kusnierz said. "People work at the paper mill, for small businesses. Now they cannot go to work. They are not getting a dollar compensation."