WILLIAMSPORT – Employees of the county’s family relations office will find a bonus in their paychecks, a reward from the federal government for a job well done.

“The performance of the employees in this department was so exceptional that the federal government said there was more money. Here is more money for your outstanding performance ”, Lycoming County Commissioner Rick Mirabito said.

The use of performance awards for domestic relations employees from Title IV-D funds was approved by the Commissioners at their recent meeting.

Mirabito cited various ways the Family Relations Department had saved taxpayer dollars, which Commissioner Scott Metzger added to be around $ 1 million.

“This office saved us about a million dollars. They paid for their full construction there (in their building) which was about $ 300,000. They bought a vehicle. They paid their investigator. They pay for a lot of different things ”, Metzger said.

The performance bonus will not affect the salaries of domestic relations employees. It is a one-time performance bonus that is paid out of federal funds, according to Judge Joy McCoy.

Title IV-D funds have specific uses, noted McCoy.

“This performance bonus is one of the things we are allowed to use it for,” McCoy said.

“One thing you need to remember about DR (Domestic Relations) is that they are particularly different from all the other offices in this county. First, the county pays only 33% of their salary and benefits. The 66 percent comes from the state and the federal government. We also have this fund and it is based on our performance. If we weren’t very efficient, we wouldn’t have this fund to be able to try to withdraw ”, McCoy said, adding that the local county office is consistently the state’s fifth-class county in all six performance categories.

These categories include items such as prescription issuance, timely collection of arrears, and medicare collection.

“We’ve never asked for this before, but from January 2019 to the end of June of this year, we believe there are some really unique things that have happened in the Family Relations Office that warranted it at this point,” MCoy said. The discussion over approving the performance bonus money focused on why this particular county office deserves the extra money while the pay rates for other departments have remained the same. The question was raised by Krista Rogers, County Controller.

“It’s not our county tax money” Metzger said. “If it was the county taxpayer’s money, I would have a real problem.”

“I think there are going to be some people who are somehow unhappy with the way we vote… I wish we could give everyone bonuses, but it’s just not feasible”, he added.

Other actions taken by the commissioners included approving $ 125,000 in legacy funds from oil and gas drilling in Clinton Township for a park project.

Some of the improvements to the park, which is located along Highway 54 in the township, include a walking trail, improved parking, picnic tables, park benches, video cameras, field equipment playground, basketball court and improved lighting.

The township also received a matching grant of $ 70,000 from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

“These are the kinds of improvements, when we talk about work on job creation and so on, having communities where people want to live is very important. Doing things like that and then taking the initiative to do it makes the community a better place to live ”, said Mirabito.

In other actions, the commissioners approved a grant and oversight agreement with the River Valley Regional YMCA for $ 25,000 for their Superstars program. This is a 2022 budget item.

A 2021 county liquid fuel charge for the Cedar Run Bridge in Brown Township has been approved by commissioners. This budgeted item for liquid fuels was $ 80,000.

The next Commissioners’ meeting will be at 10 a.m. on December 14 in the Commissioners Council Chamber, First Floor, Executive Plaza, 330 Pine St. The Commissioners indicated that the 2022 budget will be approved at this meeting.