Copyright © 2007 NLThomas
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TAHLEQUAH, OKLAHOMA – For a second time Principal Chief Chad Smith vetoed a budget modification that included bonus money for Cherokee Nation employees. The $1.5 million in bonus money was included in a budget modification the council approved in January. Smith also vetoed a budget modification in November that included the money for staff bonuses. During the February council meeting, councilors voted 10-6 to override the chief’s veto. However, 12 votes were needed to override the veto. Voting to sustain the veto were Jackie Bob Martin, Don Garvin, Cara Cowan Watts, Bill Johnson, Buel Anglen and Jack Baker. Voting against it were Bill John Baker, Audra Smoke-Conner, Joe Crittenden, David Thornton, Phyllis Yargee, Linda Hughes O’Leary, Melvina Shotpouch, Johnny Keener, Charles “Chuck” Hoskin and Taylor Keen. Employees received a $570 bonus in October, but the majority of the council believes employees should have received nearly $1,000, and in January, they again voted to provide CN employees with more bonus money. Chief Smith and the council provided $2.1 million in bonus money for employees last summer. Smith has said the bonuses handed out in October were the largest CN employees have ever received, but the bonuses “were subject to the same withholdings and encumbrances of all compensation – indirect costs, fringe (benefits) and (state and federal) taxes.” “It is good to know that things are going so well in the Cherokee Nation that the ongoing dispute seems to center around how we should treat our employees. If this is our biggest disagreement, then the Cherokee Nation must be headed in the right direction,” Smith wrote said in his veto memo to the Tribal Council. “It appears that some council members did not understand that proper accounting practices dictate that we charge our fringe and indirect rate equally and mistakenly promised $1,000 to every employee.” Bill John Baker contends the administration did not have to pull all of the withholdings out of the bonuses and that the budget modification approved in January was meant to provide employees as close to $1,000 as possible. He also said during the Feb. 12 council meeting that the tribe had a surplus of $25 million in 2005 and $30 million in 2006, money intended for services, more than enough to pay for bonuses. He added employees recently donated thousands of hours helping people affected by the January ice storm. They will not receive overtime pay because the departments they work for do not have money to pay overtime, he said. Smith said in addition to the $2.1 million in bonuses employees received in 2006, they also benefited from a range of other improvements in employee compensation including merit increases of approximately $2.280 million, a minimum wage increase of approximately $270,000, $50 Christmas gifts worth approximately $110,000 and performance incentive and exceptional service awards worth approximately $490,000. Keen said he grew up around Tahlequah and has been around the CN all his life and knows the struggles some CN employees face. “I don’t think you can ever accuse CN employees of being overpaid. I understand the conditions Cherokee people live in here in the Cherokee Nation, most of the time it’s check to check,” he said. Cowan Watts said she appreciates all the work tribal employees do, but analysis done three years ago shows if the tribe continues at its current rate for salary increases it will soon “consume” service money for Cherokee people. “We have to balance services to the Cherokee people with the (compensation) packages we provide to employees,” she said. Smith reiterated that 2006 was “an unprecedented year for bonuses and pay increases” for employees. “We adjusted for better minimum wages, granted across-the-board bonuses and gifts and paid employees for good performance. This is as it should be, because this has been a great year for the Cherokee Nation,” Smith said. “But the council, by refusing to separate out the double bonus from the rest of the budget, has put important programs on hold.” Projects such as water lines in the Adair County community of Rocky Mountain, cancer and diabetes treatment money and mortgage assistance are on hold, Smith said. Councilor Yargee said she realizes the bonus issue is an emotional one, but she is “tired of being accused of holding services hostage.” “This council approved this budget modification,” she said. “We’re not the one holding this hostage; we approved it as a majority, and we’re not the ones who are vetoing it.”