Holiday for youth baseball team costs Stafford taxpayers more than $97,000

The costs have come for a half-day holiday in Stafford County.

Stafford Supervisors closed the county government from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Friday, August 19, so county employees could attend the Stafford Warriors baseball game at Virginia Credit Union Stadium in Fredericksburg. Students from all five county high schools were on the team that played and lost a Babe Ruth World Series League championship game that day.

The county abruptly announced the closure on Thursday, August 18. About 100 of the county’s 400 government employees who were expected to attend showed up. Other essential personnel, like public safety crews, remained on duty.

Under the county’s holiday leave policy, some county employees who work during holidays and during other times when the local government closes for inclement weather or, in this case, a local baseball team playing in the championships are paid bonus overtime.

Overall, it cost $97,500 in bonus pay to close the county government on August 19. On Tuesday, September 6, the Board of Supervisors agreed to pay the special half-day compensation.

Some Board of Supervisors members were unhappy with the last-minute notice of the game.

“We already had given employees a floating holiday which they could have used instead of giving them another day,” said Garrisonville District Supervisor Pamela Yeung. “I’m not against people going out to see their kids play but not at the expense of the community. I got a lot of emails about closing the offices. Personally, I thought it was fiscally irresponsible on our part to do that.”

Fiscal responsibility was also a concern of Griffis-Widewater District Supervisor Tinesha Allen when she asked how much overtime pay employees who worked during the closure would receive.

“I didn’t support this because I don’t think this is a good usage of tax dollars, and also, it wouldn’t set a good precedent,” said Allen. “Would we be required to allow time off for an employee’s child’s game? I think this could have been put to better use.”

Aquia District Supervisor Monica Gary supported the half-day closure and paying holiday pay, remarking that events of this nature are standard practice with the Federal Government and can help foster good relationships and retention of employees.

However, Gary said tweaks should be made to avoid a last-minute situation in the future. “I wish it hadn’t been so politicized and argued that we wanted to do something nice for our staff,” said Gary.

Falmouth District Supervisor Meg Bohmke also expressed her support for the event but was not pleased with the last-minute nature of the event. Bohmke disapproved of all county services being closed and particularly named the Commissioner of the Revenue and the Treasurer’s offices.

“We had people walk in wanting to use those offices and couldn’t because they were closed, and I was not happy about that,” said Bohmke.

George Washington District Supervisor Tom Coen supported paying overtime, expressed fiscal concerns about the bonuses, and said that not knowing the budgetary impact was troubling.

“All of our employees are dealing with the pressures such as inflation and COVID. Existing staff are taking on other people’s work to meet the needs of the community,” said Coen. “I felt we should do something to recognize that.”

Coen would also voice concern about the last-minute nature of the event and asked if a policy could be made to avoid the issue in the future when an event such as this happens again.

Rock Hill District Supervisor and Board Chair Crystal Vanuch supported the bonuses since, according to her, there had been no team-building exercises or events for county employees since early 2020. Vanuch cited the work of county employees, particularly first responders, utilities, and the Board, who she felt deserved the bonuses and half-day for their work.

“Taxpayers just paid 58 cents so our first responders can have a $200 bonus for one day, “I think this is a good investment,” said Vanuch.

On the general government side, the county incurred $23,770 in bonus costs, while the county’s public safety departments incurred $73,800 in bonus costs.

The Board of Supervisors would approve the bonuses with a 4-3 vote. Bohmke voted to approve the motion, and Vanuch seconded. Yeung, Allen, and Hartwood District Supervisor Darrell English voted against paying the holiday bonuses.