After a lengthy discussion, Kingfisher City Commission voted Monday night to approve payment of a 5% end-of-year incentive payment for all city employees.

However, two commissioners requested that the current acrossthe- board payments be restructured next year to be based on solely on merit.

Although the $157,751 total payments already were included as an item in the city’s $18 million budget for fiscal year 2022-23, the incentive can’t be paid until formally approved by a vote of the commission.

“I would say the same thing I said last year – I’m not a proponent of across-the-board incentive pay,” Commissioner Geoff Covalt said. “We’re already paying them to show up and do their jobs. Bonuses should be earned.”

“I’m not against an end-of-theyear bonus at all, but I do think there needs to be some measures around it,” Commissioner Kyle Mecklenburg said. “You need to show you’ve done specific things to earn it.”

City Manager Dave Slezickey said that, when police and fire departments are taken out of the equation, the city’s remaining 34 employees are working in small departments to fulfill all government functions.

“It’s hard to say who does the most work,” he said. “It’s different than the private sector where there are more measurable things to base it on.”

“It’s the same thing everywhere, government or private or whatever,” Covalt responded. “It may take everyone to do the job but there are some that stand out above the others.”

An annual city employee perk that’s been a fixture for decades, the incentive pay was originally labeled a “Christmas bonus,” which commissioners personally presented to each employee at the annual holiday party.

The advent of direct electronic deposit has eliminated the physical bonus checks, but the incentive pay has continued.

Slezickey told commissioners the incentive pay is often used to supplement holiday gift-giving and family celebrations and “a lot of it is spent at that big blue store on South Main Street (Walmart) which pays us sales tax.”

Covalt said personnel expenses already constitute the lion’s share of the city’s budget and he’s concerned that other assets might be suffering.

“Somehow, someway, we’ve got to institute a budget that maintains our assets,” he said. “The more we continue to increase personnel wages, the less ability we have to do that.”

Ultimately, Covalt made the motion to approve this year’s incentive pay, with Mecklenburg offering the second.

“Moving forward, we need to have discussions as to how we look at budgeting this item next year,” he said.

“I sure don’t want to hold anyone’s Christmas plans up in any way.

“It’s not a personal thing; it’s more about being good stewards of the city’s dollars.”

Mayor Roxie Alexander and Commissioner Wendell Prim also voted to approve this year’s incentive pay. Commissioner Ryan Deatherage was absent.

Slezickey said he’ll look at developing a plan next year to link incentive pay to employee performance evaluations, another goal that current commissioners have been advocating.