One perk in the state’s latest annual budget has begun to come through in a big way for local law enforcement officers across Alamance County.
Earlier this week, the county’s board of commissioners and Burlington’s city council accepted their share of the nearly $40 million that the budget sets aside to give sworn police officers and sheriff’s deputies one-time bonuses of $1,750 apiece.
The State Bureau of Investigation, which has been tasked with distributing these bonuses, has issued $261,537 to the city of Burlington and $282,582 to Alamance County to cover these payments as well as the associated payroll taxes. In Burlington’s case, the funds cover bonuses for 137 full-time officers and a handful of part-timers, while the county’s largesse has been earmarked for 150 full-time sheriff’s deputies.
The county’s board of commissioners formally allocated its share of this revenue during a regularly-scheduled meeting on Monday while Burlington’s city council did the same when its members gathered together on Tuesday. In both cases, the relevant budget amendments were approved as part of a so-called consent agenda of routine or noncontroversial items that the city councils and the commissioners adopted en bloc.
