Caddo Leaders Approve Pay Bonuses for Workers

The Caddo Parish Commission has approved a one time pay bonus for all parish workers for going above and beyond the call of duty during the pandemic.

Commissioner Jim Taliaferro objected to the bonus checks. He told his colleagues this is just another stimulus check and all of the parish workers were paid their salaries during the pandemic.

This money is coming from the American Rescue Act funds the parish is getting. The Commission has agreed to give all fulltime workers a one time bonus of $1500 dollars and temporary workers would get a $900 dollars. To qualify for the checks, employees had to work for the parish sometime between March of 2020 and the end of February of this year.

Commission John Atkins says we're looking at providing compensation and gratitude for work that has been done and work they will do in the future. "This is not a stimulus for work that's not being done.

Commissioner Todd Hopkins says several other governmental entities have done the same and our workers are some of the best and we should thank them for all they did during the pandemic.

Commission President Lyndon Johnson says our employees did go above and beyond the call of duty. They helped with Covid testing at sites all over the parish. He says they also helped during the February winter storm in setting up water distribution sites across Caddo Parish.

The measure passed on an 11-1 vote. This pay bonus package will cost about $600,000 dollars. All of the money will be from federal dollars.