By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
During the budget workshop, the City of Great Bend administration discussed a few ways to provide more incentives to their employees. A few of the city departments run tight on staff throughout the year, specifically when employees are not allowed to rollover their vacation hours and are forced to use them.
City Administrator Brandon Anderson said staff and department heads agreed a vacation buy-back option would be a good addition for employees.
"If an individual is willing to build that kind of leave and not use that leave, it defeats the purpose when we're short-staffed making someone take vacation and having to pay overtime," said Anderson.
Under the approved buy-back policy, city employees with between 200-240 hours of accrued vacation leave, or 300-360 hours for fire department shift employees, are eligible to participate in the vacation buy-back.
"You're dealing with an employee that's pretty dedicated, and has allowed their leave pool to build," said Anderson. "We're rewarding them with an extra perk."
Eligible employees will meet with the department secretary at the city’s annual open enrollment held in late October to complete the buy-back form. Employees may only buy back up to 40 hours of vacation or up to 60 hours for fire department staff. Vacation buy-back will be paid in November.