More Than 400 Workers Got Bonuses and Raises Last Year

More than 400 Virginia Department of Transportation employees received one-time bonus payments and pay raises last year even as the state agency struggled financially and faced the prospect of widespread layoffs.

The transportation agency paid about $510,000 in one-time bonuses and salary increases last year to keep some of its top employees, officials said. Details of the bonuses and pay increases were disclosed to the Virginia Senate Finance Committee in January and reported yesterday by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Critics say news of the extra payments comes at a particularly harrowing time for the department, which said in February that it would lay off 450 hourly and temporary workers and shed 1,000 more full-time jobs over the next 18 months.

"I don't know if these bonuses are legitimate or not because we have no way to compare all of this from previous years," said Del. David B. Albo (R-Fairfax), who has pushed for more audits of the department. "We need to try and get an answer."

Virginia Transportation Secretary Pierce R. Homer said his department is going through a "major contraction," which includes the closing of half of the state's highway rest stops and the elimination of $3 billion worth of highway improvement projects.

He said the $306,432 in pay increases were made to retain 74 employees as part of $2.37 million in "salary adjustments" made for 684 workers. Many of those employees were specialized, such as bridge inspectors and engineers, and were promoted or given expanded duties as part of the department's restructuring, he said.

"People are being asked to do more with less, and these people who have to do more, they need to be compensated," Homer said.

Joan Morris, a transportation agency spokeswoman, also noted that $204,770 in bonuses paid last year went to 357 workers, amounting to an average bonus of $582 a person. "These are very modest amounts," she said. "AIG we ain't."

Complaints about the department's spending are nothing new. Calls to rein in spending have repeatedly come from state lawmakers. Sen. Mark D. Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg) started a Web site dedicated to the agency's "wasteful spending."

But the department is far from the only government agency to give its employees bonuses amid the dim financial climate. Last year, 7,458 state employees received $3.65 million in one-time bonuses, according to figures provided by the office of Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D).