The newly enacted state budget includes bonuses for state employees, but the money won't appear in paychecks until late September.
The budget bill became law on July 7, and it features 3% raises for most state workers along with bonuses ranging from a $1,000 (for people with salaries above $65,000) to $1,750 (for people earning less than $65,000 annually). Local law enforcement officers will receive a $1,750 bonus regardless of salary.
But if workers are looking for the extra money in their paychecks at the end of this month, they won't find it.
That's because the bill became law too late in the month for the current payroll cycle. The Office of State Controller, which handles payroll processing, says employees can expect the raises in their August paycheck, but they'll be retroactive to July 1.
Employees paid biweekly will see the raises on Aug. 14, while employees paid monthly will get theirs on Aug. 31.
The bonuses will wait even longer. The controller's office says that money will appear in late September paychecks — Sept. 25 for employees paid biweekly and Sept. 30 for those paid monthly — because budget writers scheduled the bonus to arrive in the fall.
The budget bill says the bonuses should be "payable as close as is practicable to October 15," even though they apply to workers who were employed by state government on June 30. That means workers hired since July 1 won't receive bonuses.
Ardis Watkins with the State Employees Association of North Carolina says the delay looks political.
"If it was the raise and you weren't implementing it until October, you would save one quarter's worth of money of the raise," Watkins told WUNC News. "But when it's one-time money for a bonus, there's no savings to the state to wait until October. The only thing that anybody can think of is that the election is right after that."
WUNC News contacted the offices of Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Destin Hall to seek an explanation on why lawmakers delayed the bonuses. "Legislators wanted to ensure agencies had sufficient time to process their payrolls following the raises before the bonuses were delivered," Berger spokeswoman Lauren Horsch said Tuesday.
State agency teachers will be the last to receive bonuses on Oct. 30, according to the Office of State Controller. The budget bill says bonuses for teachers and assistant principals should be paid out "no later than Oct. 31." Their bonuses are $1,000 for educators with more than 16 years of experience and $500 for those with fewer years of experience. The same timing applies for bonuses to public school principals, although their bonuses are based on school performance growth and will range from $1,000 to $15,000. School nutrition workers and custodians will receive a $1,750 bonus on the same timeline.
Watkins says state employees had been hopeful that the raises would arrive in paychecks at the end of July. "I was surprised," she said. "I thought the raises would have made it. I know it takes awhile to process them, rekey everything, but apparently they literally just barely missed the mark to get them done for the end of the July paycheck."
The Office of State Controller did not respond to inquiries from WUNC News about why the raises needed to wait until August. It also did not answer questions about whether employees who retire or leave state government jobs after June 30 — but before the bonuses are issued — will still receive the bonus.
