Fiscal Note
The proposed resolution provides a one-time essential worker premium payment to general municipal employees (GME) in 2021 in a dollar amount equal to 3.75% of the average yearly wage of all permanent general municipal employees. The payment would be funded from the local government aid under the federal American Rescue Plan Act (“ARPA”) which is providing $47.2 million to the City of Madison.
Under ARPA, funding can be used for COVID-19 response costs, including addressing negative economic impacts in the community; premium pay for essential workers; maintaining government services up to the amount of revenue loss due to the pandemic; and for water, sewer and broadband infrastructure investments.
Under the US Treasury's interim rule related to use of the state and local government aid under ARPA, premium pay can only be paid to essential workers. Essential workers are those in critical infrastructure sectors "who regularly perform in-person work, interact with others at work, or physically handle items handled by others." Critical infrastructure sectors include health care, education and child care, transportation, sanitation, grocery and food production, and public health and safety, among others. More sectors can be added to the list as long as those sectors are considered critical to protect the health and well-being of residents.
The interim final rule emphasizes the need to prioritize premium pay for lower income workers. Premium pay that would increase a worker's total pay above 150% of the greater of the state or county average wage requires a specific justification for how it responds to the needs of these workers.
Further, the rule specifies that a worker would not be engaged in essential work and, accordingly may not receive premium pay, for telework performed from a residence. The average annual salary for permanent full-time GMEs is $70,950 and the payment per full-time GME would be $2,661. Approximately 1,485 employees would be eli...
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