BECKLEY, W.Va. — City employees in Beckley will have the opportunity to earn up to $6,500 in extra pay throughout the next year for coming to work and being vaccinated against COVID-19.
On Tuesday, Beckley City Council unanimously passed a vaccine incentive resolution that would give both full-time and part-time workers a $500 payment for being vaccinated or doing so before December.
Beckley Mayor Rob Rappold told MetroNews affiliate WJLS Radio city leaders believe it’s a way to encourage those on the fence to get a shot.
The city is also setting up a fund to pay city workers $1,500 every quarter for working through the current pandemic, beginning in the final quarter of 2021. Rappold said the extra pay would last for four quarters and an employee could receive up to $6,000.
Rappold said the money is coming from what Beckley is receiving in federal pandemic relief funding.
“If these people are still on board and working and have worked through the pandemic, we are working on a program that would give them an appreciation bonus,” the mayor said.
Rappold said some city employees have already received a shot since the initial vaccination incentive announcement was made.
The City of Charleston is offering a $750 incentive for city employees to get vaccinated.
“We all know that municipalities don’t have the highest-paid employees but we have employees that in many cases are out at three or four in the morning scraping snow or answering problems with stormwater or flooding,” Rappold said.