BY STEFANIE JACKSON BOWMANN, Eastern Shore Post —
Northampton County supervisors have approved sheriff’s office communications staff bonuses that will be funded by two incorporated towns with police departments.
Exmore and Eastville, which have their own police departments but rely on the Northampton County Sheriff’s Office for dispatching, contributed a total of $13,000 for the bonuses.
“The town of Exmore is grateful to the sheriff and his staff for what they provide,” Exmore Town Councilman Chase Sturgis said during a public hearing on the matter on Tuesday, Sept. 10.
Without the partnership between Exmore and Northampton County, police dispatching “would be a great expense to the town, one such that we may not be able to offer police services at that level, being the size that we are,” Sturgis said.
Exmore has a population of less than 1,500, compared to Northampton County’s population of about 12,000.
Exmore contributed $7,000 for the bonuses and Eastville gave $6,000, or $1,000 for each police officer employed by the two towns.
Northampton will give a $2,000 bonus to each of the county’s six communications officers at a total cost of $12,000.
The remaining $1,000 of the contributed funds will help cover payroll taxes.
Northampton supervisors voted unanimously to pass an ordinance authorizing the payment of the bonuses.
Supervisor Oliver Bennett, who is also a teacher at Northampton High School, noted that Northampton teachers also recently received bonuses: $2,000 recruitment bonuses for new teachers and $2,500 retention bonuses for returning teachers.
Bennett suggested that other employees of Northampton County Public Schools, such as cafeteria workers, bus drivers, and special education assistants, also should receive bonuses.
When he and his fellow supervisors “buy our groceries, pay our bills — phone bill, electric bill, all those other things — we have money left over, if we’re being honest,” Bennett said.
“But many of these folks bring home $500 to $600 every two weeks. That’s not a luxury. I don’t see how some of us could make it on $500 or $600 every two weeks,” he said.
“Can we give them everything? No. But we’ve got to do more than what we’re doing,” Bennett said.
He requested that the Northampton school board consider giving bonuses to its classified employees.
Northampton Superintendent of Schools Lisa Martin, who was present at the supervisors meeting, said the school board was already prepared to consider that issue at its meeting on Thursday, Sept. 12.
“I must be turning into a prophet,” said Bennett, who had made public comments on student cellphone use before Gov. Glenn Youngkin in July issued an executive order directing Virginia schools to provide cellphone-free education.
