EASTON, Pa. – More than half of the money Northampton County Council authorized for staff bonuses at Gracedale nursing home instead went to operating expenses for the home, an audit released Wednesday found.
County council adopted a resolution in 2022 that authorized the county executive to spend $5 million on recruitment and retention bonuses for Gracedale staff. The program has since ended for nearly all county employees.
In March, a majority of council members voted to direct County Controller Tara Zrinski to determine where all of that money went.
The controller’s office found that only $2.36 million – less than half of what county commissioners authorized – went to paying the $2,500 bonuses.
Administrators at the home did not track the $5 million lump sum once it entered Gracedale’s fund balance and mixed with money from other sources.
As a result, it is impossible to determine exactly where the remaining $2.64 million went, the audit shows.
"A resolution is a suggestion."Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure
“There is no way to specifically determine what that money was used for at Gracedale beside what was indicated by the previous management – operational expenses and the care of residents,” Zrinski wrote in a news release Wednesday.
County Executive Lamont McClure said he did not direct nursing home administrators to use ARPA money to cover operating costs, and was not involved with the decision.
“It definitely wasn’t brought to my attention,” he said.
McClure argues the resolution County Council adopted in 2022 did not require anyone to spend $5 million on staff bonuses.
“A resolution is a suggestion,” McClure said, though he has “always endeavored to treat resolutions as if they had the force of law – which they do not.”
McClure said that his administration brought the resolution before County Council effectively as a courtesy.
“We thought that we had a plan that should at least be vetted by County Council and approved by them,” he said.
McClure said he notified council on June 6, 2024, that the bonus program would end. He called the audit “politically motivated,” arguing that council members did not raise questions about the payment until the middle of an election year.
The audit also found evidence of only one improper payment made through the bonus program and determined that the county’s union contracts were appropriately amended to reflect the end of the bonuses.
Zrinski plans to present the audit at Northampton County Council’s June 17 finance committee meeting.
