On the Records: Bonus Round

A key state treasury fund grew 1.76 percent last year, earning Texas nearly $500 million — and some sizable bonuses for the employees who oversee the investments.

Eleven workers in the Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Co., which is chaired by state Comptroller Susan Combs, combined for more than $360,000 in bonuses last year, according to a payroll database released by her office. The extra payments are similar to those received by some of the trust's workers last year.

Though the state constitution prohibits gifts with public money, incentive pay generally is lawful when tied to an employee's performance. In this case, the treasury employees oversaw a fund that grew, and the bonuses are in line with their written compensation plan, said R.J. DeSilva, a spokesman for Combs.

The chart below shows the employees' average monthly paycheck from January to November — and the spike in December.

_{Source: Comptroller of Public Accounts}