Kalamazoo County Commish Want To Give 'Extra' Money To Employees

When I first read the headline of a piece published in MLive I thought could this really be true? That headline was “Kalamazoo County considers $7,500 payments to essential employees working in-person through the pandemic”.

Then I realized that we are talking about the Kalamazoo County Commission and we all know it swings so far left it may actually reside in the former Soviet Union. I called one of the few level-headed Kalamazoo County Commissioners who actually cares about the people of Kalamazoo and the taxes that are extracted from them by the County, State and Federal Government

I asked him if the County Commission is actually talking about paying people a, for lack of a better term, hazard pay bonus they are calling "extra" for doing what they are already being paid to do? He said yes, they are. He informed me at their Commission meeting Tuesday night they actually spoke about giving a “hazard pay” bonus of up to $7,500 to County employees who actually showed up for work in person during the pandemic.

Wasn’t most of our County government closed for most of 2020 and part of 2021?

They first spoke of giving employees up to $2,000, with an additional $500 for people making less than $15/hour. Their plan, as was recommended at the meeting, “would result in payments to 258 employees for work done in 2020 and to 457 employees for work in 2021”.

One of the Commissioners, Veronica McKissack, stated the following at the meeting:

I definitely support the number $7,500, over $1,000 or $2,000

According to the article in MLive, they reported that Veronica said “Providing $7,500 is the minimum they can do…for those who worked face-to-face with colleagues or county residents during the pandemic”. What about all of us who work in the real world, were deemed essential employees, could not work from the comfort of our homes in our pajamas or sweatpants and do not have a Sugar Daddy taxpayer to pay us, hazard pay?

In fact, it is all of us truly “essential” employees who make the money to pay the essential taxes that government bureaucrats and politicians use to pay their essential employees and in many cases their non-essential selves. I choose the word “truly” to be placed in front of the word “essential employees” because without us there is no money made in which to pay the taxes that are paid to government employees and wasted by politicians i.e., some County Commissioners.

My sentiments are not a reflection on the County Employees but more of a reality check. The people who earn the money to pay the taxes to pay the government to pay their employees are not getting "extra" or "hazard pay" bonuses for showing up to their jobs. If these County Commissioners want their essential employees to receive hazard pay then I would suggest they pay it out of their own pockets and not the taxpayers of the County, State and Country. By County Commissioner I mean the ones who actually vote for this slap in the face of all employees who pay the taxes.

I would suggest you contact your County Commissioner before their next month's meeting. We are told that the county’s Finance Director, Amanda Morse, will be presenting the numbers to the Board at the next Board of Commissioners meeting.

To determine who is your County Commissioner and how to contact them go to the County website kalcounty.com then to “officials and departments” then to “commissioners”. On that page, you will find who your commissioner is and how to contact them.

There are more Commissioners like Kalamazoo’s out their apparently Genesee County Commissioners gave their qualifying staff $7,500.

God save our towns, cities, Counties, State and Country from these fiscally irresponsible people.