ATLANTA — Former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed's year-end bonuses and gifts cost taxpayers $811,000, or nearly $300,000 more than previously reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News.
The additional spending falls into two general categories: additional employees who received bonuses or awards that were not on the original list provided by the city of Atlanta, and bonus awards that cost taxpayers more because additional city money was added so that public dollars covered taxes.
We previously reported that the bonus and some contest awards were "grossed up" to cover taxes.
[SPECIAL SECTION: Atlanta City Hall investigation]
But the AJC and Channel 2 Action News obtained a new spreadsheet from the city detailing the additional costs and bonuses through a Georgia Open Records Act request.
The additional staff compensation amounts to a 56 percent increase in the cost to taxpayers from what was previously known. Covering the taxes was a significant expense.
“That’s awful,” City of Atlanta employees’ union boss Gina Pagnotti-Murphy said. “In this magnitude of amount, it’s just startling. It’s very disheartening.”
For example, each of the five $15,000 bonuses paid to Reed’s highest-ranking cabinet members actually cost taxpayers $21,260.
The 26 $10,000 bonuses awarded by Reed cost the public $14,805 each when the tax burden was added.
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