Fresno County leaders consider incentives for employees to get COVID shots. Here’s how much
Fresno County leaders are considering a $500 incentive to county employees who have gotten vaccinated against COVID-19 — or those will get shots in the near future.
Under the proposed plan, each county employee who got vaccinated for COVID-19 by Nov. 16 could receive a $500 deferred payment.
That money would go into a retirement savings plan offered by the county and would not count as part of each employee’s pension, according to Hollis McGill, the director of human resources.
The Board of Supervisors did not make a decision on Tuesday after a presentation about the incentive from the human resources department. The board decided instead to push the decision off to a potential future meeting.
County employees estimated the incentive could cost about $3.75 million, but has the potential to save money because it would reduce ongoing testing required for unvaccinated employees.
County employees who are not vaccinated and work in congregate settings — like health care or jail workers — are required for testing once or twice a week following an order this month from President Joe Biden.
McGill said there may be more mandates coming from the federal level so the incentives could help address further problems and expenses with testing and lost work hours.
“We’d rather incentivize our employees to get vaccinated rather than pay for tests,” she said. “It’s a good start and hopefully encourages them to save for retirement.”
Those tests cost $78 apiece, McGill said, so it could take just a few weeks for the testing of an employee to surpass the $500 incentive in the proposed plan.
County leaders have been resistant to vaccine mandates even after they were recommended by the county’s top health official, interim Health Officer Rais Vohra.
Supervisor Brian Pacheco said Tuesday he was having a difficult time justifying paying employees to do something they could do on their own without expenses.
The decision was made harder, he said, in that American Rescue Plan Act dollars would pay out the incentive, leaving less for infrastructure, parks and other public requests he hears from residents.
“I’m going to take the ARPA money and give it to people to incentivize them to get a shot instead of build a park?” he said. “I just have an issue with that.”
The county has received about half of its $200 million from the American Rescue Plan, the Biden Administration’s $1.9 trillion in COVID-19 aid.
Fresno County CAO Jean Rousseau said his team is looking at potential ways to spend the money beyond health care, but the county must wait and see what’s left after the pandemic spending dies down.
About 64% of county employees say they have been vaccinated, according to officials. Some leaders expressed skepticism about whether the incentive would make a major difference for those still not inoculated.
Supervisors Nathan Magsig and Buddy Mendes expressed interest in supporting the incentives, noting it was not a mandate.
“I believe people need to make that choice themselves, but I also believe in providing incentives,” Magsig said.
Hospitals are treating far more coronavirus patients — while at the same time caring for patients with a wide range of other illnesses and conditions — than they were just a few months ago. The crowded hospitals are a problem for anyone who needs medical attention, and not just those who aren’t vaccinated, officials stress.
The inflated hospitalization figures are being fueled largely by a major and ongoing surge in the number of new coronavirus cases being reported each day — an average of between 400 and 600 new cases per day in Fresno County over the past two weeks, with the Valleywide average of about 1,100 new cases each day over the same period.
Supervisor Sal Quintero said he wanted to hear more of the pros and cons before taking a vote.
Supervisor Steve Brandau has said before he would not support mandates, and said Tuesday he can’t get behind the incentive idea either because the vaccine is too divisive.
“It’s not a massive amount of money. In my mind, it probably would encourage some to get vaccinated,” he said. “But, philosophically I’m opposed to using this money for incentives.”
This story was originally published September 21, 2021 at 1:59 PM.
