Bonuses at tax collector's office raise eyebrows

In light of events involving Sheriff Charlie Morris, Okaloosa County Commission Chairman Bill Roberts said he is interested in how the rest of the county's constitutional officers handle employee bonuses.

He got an eyeful Wednesday, when it was reported that Tax Collector Chris Hughes had handed out $692,000 in bonuses in three years.

"I was hoping if I asked whether they'd given bonuses, the answer would be ‘no.' certainly not ‘yes' on the order of $692,000," he said. "To find out these kind of bonuses have been paid really upsets me."

Hughes' revelation and findings that he'd provided bonuses as high as $22,500 to some employees, was the talk of the town Wednesday.

"I thought to myself, ‘wow,' " said Crestview resident Harold LaFountain.

The tax collector's fellow constitutional officers expressed shock that Hughes has given such large performance incentives.

"Those are large numbers to say the least, said Okaloosa County Clerk of Courts Don Howard, who provided no employee bonuses in fiscal 2008. "I would never do anything remotely like that, but that's a decision he made."

For his part, Hughes said he was surprised his fellow constitutional officers were not using bonuses to retain key employees. The notion of compensating employees for a job well done is common in the private sector, he said.

"This model is not uncommon in the real world," he said. "People say they want you to operate county government like a business."

Hughes said the bonuses come from funds saved by not filling positions or by holding on to budget dollars not spent when an employee leaves.

"This is one way we've gotten our people to perform on a higher level," he said.

Hughes said providing bonuses inspires employees to stay with his office and saves him money.

"That extra compensation pay saves us about 25 percent. It's cheaper than hiring new people, not having to pay the related expenses."
Hughes pointed to his office's several recent successes.

He said it's the only constitutional office in county that has functioned for the last three years without a budget increase. It also has received national recognition as the outstanding county treasurer's office, Hughes said.

And last year, Hughes' office remitted almost $1.5 million to the county, he said.

The dollars given to the county include fees the tax collector's office collects for its services. Any funds collected over the yearly budget are turned over to the County Commission.

County Administrator Jim Curry did say that funds not passed out as bonuses could reasonably be expected to come back to the county.

And with Sheriff Charlie Morris facing fraud, theft and money laundering charges for doling out questionable bonuses, Hughes' bonus numbers couldn't help but stand out.

They're all the more glaring when compared against the bonus figures presented by a couple of other county constitutional officers, including Howard, Property Appraiser Pete Smith and recently elected Supervisor of Elections Paul Lux.

Howard said he'd scattered $18,750 in bonus checks between 20 employees in fiscal 2007-08. He's never given a bonus of more than $2,000.

Smith makes it a practice to give $1,000 bonuses to employees when they receive state certifications. He's presented about 20 such bonuses in his 16 years in office.

"I'm proud of my record and proud of the production of my people. They seem to be plenty happy," Smith said. "I don't feel those kind of bonuses are authorized or necessary."

Lux said his former boss, Pat Hollarn, had presented about $11,000 in bonuses in the last six years.

State law allows constitutional offices a great deal of freedom in how they spend their budgets, which are approved by the state Department of Revenue every year.

The only role county commissioners play in Hughes' budget process is giving approval to a one-page budget summary they are presented each year.

Commissioners have no real say in how Hughes spends his money or have any oversight responsibility.

"It's his authority to do that," Roberts said of Hughes' bonus policy. "It doesn't sit well with me at all."

Hughes said he has done nothing wrong by providing large bonuses to his staff and his employees have done nothing wrong by accepting them.

"Unfortunately, comparisons are going to be made to the Sheriff's Office," he said. "Our people have done nothing wrong."

The Sheriff's Office has come under fire since the Feb. 27 arrest of Morris and his administrative director Teresa Adams. The FBI has accused Morris of authorizing bonuses for employees then requiring much of the money to be kicked back to him.

Adams paid out the fictitious bonuses, according to the FBI.

State Department of Revenue officials said no investigation of Hughes' performance incentive policy was being considered.

Some of the staff Hughes gave bonuses to have contributed to his political campaigns, but legal sources said there is nothing illegal about that.

State Sen. Don Gaetz said he generally supports public entities such as a tax collector's office providing incentive pay to quality employees. But he said those performance bonuses should be backed up with "justifiable and reliable measurement" for all to see.

Just Wednesday, Gaetz said he and two other senators presented an idea to the Capitol press corps. They're considering introducing legislation instructing every state agency to put "every detail of their budget online."

Gaetz, R-Niceville, said the plan could be "rolled out to local governments, school districts and state colleges and universities in two years.

"I think the best kind of oversight is government in the sunshine," Gaetz said. "We've had too much spending in the shade."