South Pima News

The Pima County Board of Supervisors approved a temporary pay increase for county employees who aren't able to practice social distancing at work, Green Valley News reported.

The board voted 4-1 on the matter, with Supervisor Ally Miller the only board member to vote against the measure. She said she believed the raise sent the wrong message to those who aren't getting paid right now, according to the news agency.

"The premium pay troubles me because the private-sector folks are out of work, their paychecks ended on March 19 at 8 p.m.," Miller told the news agency. "People are lucky to have jobs right now. Anywhere you are, you're lucky to be getting a paycheck. And there's a whole lot of people in this community that are getting nothing since March 19."

The raise will go to law enforcement, correctional officers and individuals who operate county transaction windows, among others and will raise their pay by $2 per hour from April 12 until June, the news agency reported.

The county also passed a furlough program that would go into effect once employees have used all of their leave time and would make them eligible to receive unemployment, according to the news agency.

Sheriff Mark Napier suggested the extra pay to County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry at the beginning of the month because he felt county employees were under a unique set of hazards. Napier told the news agency that hazard pay is not a new thing.

"We already do this for SWAT operators and motor officers that have unique hazards. It is quite clear that a deputy about to effect an arrest cannot ask somebody to take their temperature or don PPE equipment or otherwise social distance themselves," Napier told the news agency.

Napier said the money isn't about their personal exposure—it's about exposure their families are receiving because of these jobs, according to the news agency.

"I became a law enforcement officer more than three decades ago," the news agency reported Napier said. "I always accepted the fact that I could be shot in the line of duty, and I could lose my life. I did not accept the fact that that bullet could come home and harm my family."

Napier said the hazard these employees are currently facing is invisible, the news agency reported.