Elected county officials in MI who gave themselves $65,000 in COVID hazard payments return the money public outrage naturalnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from naturalnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Photo: Viacheslav Lopatin (Shutterstock)
COVID-19 relief money was meant to aid workers, small business owners and people who had lost their jobs or lost wages during the pandemic. It was meant for people who are financially struggling due to something they had no control over. Of course, if you happen to be a Republican government official in Shiawassee County, Mich., you might have briefly been under the impression that financial relief efforts served a different purpose to make it rain on your bank account balance.
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The Associated Press reports that elected officials in the conservative Michigan county gifted themselves and other county officials $65,000 worth of COVID relief money for bonuses and are now giving it all back after public outcry and after legal officials informed them that what they were doing was illegal AF.
Judge freezes COVID hazard pay approved by Shiawassee commissioners
Flint A Genesee County judge has ordered a freeze on COVID-19 hazard payments to dozens of Shiawassee County employees after a lawsuit alleged the county board violated Michigan s Open Meetings Act while approving the payments.
Circuit Judge Mark Latchana said Monday he will sign an order granting a preliminary injunction pulling back the payments until the Shiawassee County Board of Commissioners meets again to reconsider the appropriation.
The board s next meeting is Aug. 12.
It is not yet clear whether Latchana s order will apply to all COVID-19 hazard payments about $557,000 to 250 county employees or only to those payments that were above $5,000.
Michigan county commissioners that awarded themselves $65K bonuses say they will return money
Published
Personal loans can help fill the gap as you await coronavirus relief. (iStock)
CORUNNA, Mich. - Elected officials in a conservative Michigan county who gave themselves bonuses of $65,000 with federal COVID-19 relief aid said they will return the money following days of criticism.
Shiawassee County commissioners acted after the prosecutor said the payments were illegal, The Argus-Press reported.
The Michigan Constitution bars additional compensation for elected officials after services had already been rendered, prosecutor Scott Koerner said Friday.
The commissioners, all Republicans, voted on July 15 to award themselves $65,000 as part of a plan to give $557,000 to 250 county employees as hazard pay for dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.
Paul Sancya / AP
Lawmakers in a Michigan county are vowing to return $65,000 in bonuses they gave themselves using federal coronavirus relief funds.
During a July 15 public meeting, the Shiawassee County Board of Commissioners voted to approve hazard pay for elected officials and county employees who worked through the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
But after public criticism and a determination from the county s top prosecutor that the payments to elected officials were illegal, the board later backtracked on part of the plan.
A press release from the board posted on a local Facebook page said confusion about the nature of these funds has run rampant and that commissioners would give their bonuses back.