Sandy Chief Administrative Officer Byron Jorgenson told city employees Thursday that the mayor "has said he's not going to take it anymore."
Jorgenson explained the cash wasn't worth the heat the mayor has taken since The Salt Lake Tribune reported on Dolan's bonus and the sizable incentives awarded annually to his top 12 administrators.
"Was it wrong [for the mayor to take a bonus]? You can decide in your own mind," Jorgenson told about 100 employees gathered for a meeting about the incentive program. But he praised Dolan, who was in attendance, as "the finest mayor you can find."
Earlier in the week, Dolan acknowledged to other employees that "in retrospect" he "probably" should have turned down the bonus (1 percent of his salary) as City Council members have done for a decade. The mayor did not return a phone call Thursday.
At Thursday's meeting, divisions surfaced among Sandy employees about the lopsided bonus program. Many worried about their bonuses now being public. Others criticized The Tribune's coverage. Some challenged the administration's handling of the issue.
"I was under the impression that we were going to talk about the disparity" between administrators' bonuses and rank-and-file workers, said one young employee in blue coveralls.
Jorgenson responded, "We have really appreciated our department heads," many of whom have served Sandy a long time. "We felt it was the right thing to reward them at that level."
Department heads, he noted, have been pocketing 7 percent bonuses for the past several years but taken smaller merit raises. This year, their bonuses ranged from $7,000 to Jorgenson's $12,500. Most of the rank-and-file bonuses were $300 or less.
"I can't write my own [bonus] checks - I wouldn't," Jorgenson said. "The mayor has been very generous [to me]."
The City Council has endorsed a reform of the incentive program that will limit bonuses citywide to 1 percent - except for employees who have hit salary ceilings. They would be eligible for up to a 5 percent payout. Both groups could score up to an additional 1 percent for extraordinary achievements.
Courts employee Kathy Mayo said, as a Sandy resident, she is "thrilled" with the city's services, "but I don't know why you're crucifying The Tribune for revealing public information." And she asked why the city spent tens of thousands of dollars fighting in court to keep the bonuses private.
"We thought we were doing what is right," Jorgenson said.
Mayo found the employee meeting - the final of three held this week - unenlightening.
"This was a whitewash."
rwinters@sltrib.com
After a four-year legal fight, Sandy disclosed details of its decades-old bonus program. The records revealed that the mayor and his top 12 execs make up less than 2 percent of city staff but share 20 percent of the incentive cash.
* After a four-year legal fight, Sandy disclosed details of its decades-old bonus program this spring under court order.
* The records revealed that Mayor Tom Dolan and his top 12 administrators make up less than 2 percent of city staff but consistently take home 20 percent of the incentive cash.
* Their most recent bonuses ranged from Dolan's $1,000 perk to Chief Administrative Officer Byron Jorgenson's $12,500 after-tax payout.
* Last year, half the city's employees who received bonuses pocketed $300 or less.
