May a countys board of supervisors establish an incentive program for county employees?
Yes. Per A.R.S. 38-614, a county board of supervisors may adopt rules and regulations to provide merit awards for county employees with the following restrictions: all merit awards must be approved by the board of supervisors, a merit award may not exceed $2,500, and payments must be made from a Special Merit Award Fund. The rules and regulations must include granting a merit award for the following: (1) an adopted procedure or idea which resulted in eliminating or reducing county expenditures or improving operations in the public interest; or, (2) performance of a special act or service in the public interest. All county employees are eligible for merit awards, provided that the idea proposed or action taken was not a result of the employees regular employment duties.
