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County employee asks commissioners to restore pre-budget clothing allowance for nonuniform officers
Summary
A sheriff's department employee asked commissioners to reverse a recent decision to make a $1,100 clothing allowance reimbursable rather than paid through regular payroll, citing longstanding practice and IRS guidance on taxable allowances.
Paula Dance, speaking in public comment at the June 2 Pitt County Board of Commissioners meeting, urged the board to restore a longstanding clothing allowance practice for nonuniformed law-enforcement personnel and to reconsider a recent decision to make the allowance reimbursable rather than paid through payroll.
Dance said the county has provided a clothing allowance for about 30 years to officers who cannot perform duties in uniform — for example, undercover or plainclothes assignments — and that the allowance had historically been paid rather than reimbursed. She told commissioners the current practice under consideration would require officers to purchase apparel, submit receipts, and seek reimbursement.
Dance cited Internal Revenue Service guidance (she referenced IRS Publication 5138, February 2014) and said that other local governments — including the city of Greenville, Durham and Rocky Mount — include taxable clothing allowances on paychecks rather than treating them as purely deductible reimbursements. She told the board many nonuniformed officers use a clothing allowance (which she said is $1,100) while full uniform outfitting averages about $1,700 per officer per year.
Commissioners asked clarifying questions about the dollar figures. Staff and Dance discussed that the nonuniform clothing allowance was $1,100 paid as $55 every six months per the figures presented in the discussion; Dance said she could not recall exact IRS withholding categories but said payroll treatment (taxable via payroll) is common in neighboring jurisdictions. The transcript does not show that the board took immediate formal action on the clothing-allowance policy that evening; Dance asked the board to “take that into consideration” before the budget is finalized.
Discussion only: This was public comment; the speaker asked the board to reconsider current budget treatment. The transcript records commissioner questions for clarification but no formal motion or vote on the clothing-allowance policy during the meeting.
Background/clarifying details: Dance said uniforms cost “a little over $1,700” to fully outfit an officer in a year; she said the nonuniform clothing allowance was $1,100. She said departments in several North Carolina municipalities treat the allowance as taxable payroll income.
Next steps: The clothing-allowance item was raised ahead of the county budget hearing scheduled for June 3; the board did not adopt a new policy during the June 2 meeting and may address the matter in the budget discussion at the subsequent hearing.
