W.Va. Bonus, Revisited

The Associated Press crunches the numbers and finds that full time state workers eligible for Gov. Joe Manchin's proposed $500 "bonus" would pocket around $375 of that after taxes, pension contributions and other deductions.

The retirees earmarked for $266 in the House amendment to the governor's bill would likely have gotten that entire amount, for wont of withholding, the article said.

AP also notes the full-time state employees _ 10,500 paid through special revenue accounts and 4,000 in federally-funded positions _ who would not have been covered by the funding provided in Manchin's special session legislation.

"The administration's proposal is no different than how other raises have been handled in the past," the article said. "When general revenue-based increases have been paid, agencies that rely on other sources of funding -- like fee-generated special revenues -- must tap their own accounts for the money."

But the article also notes that Manchin's bonus bill made one exception to this tradition, for the 5,000 or so Division of Highways workers who rely on the chronically-strapped State Road Fund.