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Atlanta watershed official under fire for employees' raises

ATLANTA — The Atlanta Department of Watershed commissioner is under fire after giving several top employees five-figure raises.
 
According to documents obtained by Channel 2 Action News, Jo Ann Macrina gave at least five employees raises ranging from 13 to 25 percent.
 
They were raises greater than 10 percent must be approved by the city council, but these were not. The documents also show the commissioner backdated the pay to June 2013.
 
Mayor Kasim Reed's office emailed Channel 2 a statement saying, "Mayor Reed did not authorize these pay raises. On learning of them, he immediately directed the increases be reversed. At the direction of Mayor Reed and the Atlanta City Council, operations of the Department of Watershed Management are under thorough review."