While discussing supplemental payments to employees, an issue of paying county employees as vendors came up during the Seward County Commissioners Nov. 27 meeting.
These vendor claims came up following an oral report on the county’s recent audit, given outside of public meeting.
The state auditor’s office said it would not comment on the audit until its finished report is released in December or January.
County Treasurer Bob Dahms said the vendor claims may have ramifications with the IRS.
There was disagreement on this point at the meeting. Several elected officials said the auditor stated the vendor claims could violate IRS rules. Board Chair Roger Glawatz and County Attorney Wendy Elston said the auditor did not make that comment.
According to the IRS’s Employer’s Supplemental Tax Guide, employers need to make a distinction between common-law employees and independent contractors, which were referred to as vendors during the board’s meeting.
The guide states that independent contractors follow an independent trade that they also offer to the general public. They are generally not employees of the business in question, though there are instances in which a county employee could also be an independent contractor for the county.
“The general rule is that an individual is an independent contractor if you, the person for whom the services are performed, have the right to control or direct only the result of the work and not the means and methods of accomplishing the result,” the guide states.
According to the guide, an employer’s responsibility to withhold federal income tax, social security and Medicare differs between common-law employees and contractors.
The county employees who were paid as vendors are an HR assistant who was paid as a vendor for her role as the 1st Job-Seward director and the county’s drug accountability coordinator who was paid as a vendor for grant writing.
Since August, the 1st Job director has received $457.66/month and the grant writer received $416/month, in addition to their wages as county employees. This information was found in the county board’s monthly claims.
County Clerk Sherry Schweitzer said the payments were made from the attorney’s grant fund.
County Attonrey Wendy Elston said she will contact the IRS to ensure the payments are being made correctly.
She also said she paid these employees as vendors because grant writing was something Seward County Bridges had previously provided for the county.
Bridges has not been able to find someone to do this work, Elston said, so her office took it over because the drug accountability coordinator is qualified to write grants.
Elston said 1st Job-Seward, which is a grant program designed to pair high school students with local internships, gets them involved in the community and less likely to get in trouble.
She said the employees were paid as vendors because she thought it would be easier to track. It was also how the county paid for the services through Bridges.
amanda@sewardindependent.com
