Although there was a widespread impression two weeks ago that Roanoke County's board of supervisors and school board had reached an agreement to give one-time $500 bonuses to all county employees, it turned out on Tuesday night that the question was still open to debate.

And for a time, it appeared that a plan to make the payments out of health insurance reserve surpluses was imperiled.

But, in the end, after a dozen speakers and an impassioned speech about the payments coming about the wrong way at the wrong time from the wrong fund, Hollins District Supervisor Richard Flora changed his position and voted for the bonuses.

That led to a 4-1 vote for the proposal -- exactly what was needed to approve the $1.8 million expenditure under so-called "emergency" rules that don't require a second reading of the authorizing ordinances.

Only Chairman Mike Altizer, who just squeaked out a 17-vote re-election victory for his Vinton District seat, voted against the measure.

Saying "this is the worst position I have ever been in in almost eight years on the board," Altizer said it would be imprudent to spend the money now.

He also joined Flora in blaming the school board for not coming up with the bonus funds out of previously appropriated funds that should end up with surpluses at the end of the fiscal year.

Altizer, who helped craft the compromise that led to Tuesday's vote, said he could not in good conscience vote for the bonuses when he's been saying spending the money could threaten teachers' jobs next year -- if the health insurance surpluses might be needed then -- and that it might be possible to give raises rather than bonuses if the boards waited until the next budget year to consider the question.

"All I've said I believed in would have been a lie if I supported this [bonus] tonight," he said.

Cave Spring District Supervisor Charlotte Moore and the Catawba District's Butch Church emphasized that they thought the teachers and other county employees deserved the bonuses, and that the boards had a duty to pay them because of the perception they had been promised the rewards.

Outgoing Windsor Hills District Supervisor Joe McNamara, serving at his last board meeting, said that while he also had concerns about how the issue was handled, "using one-time funds" to pay for a one-time expense made sense, rather than looking at it as a potential source of salary funding in the future.

Although the majority of speakers were teachers supporting the bonuses, several spoke against the proposal.

Mike Bailey, chairman of the Roanoke County Republican Committee, said he was speaking only for himself in describing the plan as "irresponsible and dangerous. It looks to me like robbing Peter to pay Paul."

Bailey told the board members that "if you resist the temptation to do something to make you feel good today, you may have the opportunity to do something greater next year like giving raises, which the county's employees deserve."

Under the plan approved Tuesday, the school board's health insurance fund will pay about $1.2 million for school employees' bonuses and add almost $200,000 to the county's $400,000 contribution from its health insurance reserves to reward other county employees.

It was a rare example in recent years of the supervisors and school board being at odds.

Hard feelings became evident after Nov. 19 when the school board, attending a meeting in Williamsburg, voted to give holiday bonuses of $750 to every teacher and $500 to other full-time staff members.

The $1.8 million was to come from the school division's health insurance reserve fund, which currently has a $10 million surplus.

However, the school board needed the supervisors' approval to make that kind of appropriation and the supervisors -- who said they first heard of the plan when it was reported in The Roanoke Times -- balked at even considering the request in the current economic climate.

Altizer initially refused to put the appropriation request on the Dec. 1 board agenda, saying he had polled the board's members and they were not interested in taking up the question at that time.

During a private meeting between the heads of both boards, the county administrator and the school superintendent at lunch on Dec. 1, however, a deal was reportedly struck.

The school board would be satisfied with lower bonuses for teachers -- $500 -- and the county would provide similar incentives to all other county employees.

That night, both boards spoke in terms that sounded strongly as if the deal was done, needing only the formality of a public hearing Tuesday to be approved.

In the meantime, however, supervisors who had first heard from angry teachers chastising them for not even considering the bonuses, began to hear from taxpayers who were unhappy with the plan, and it became evident that some members understood the agreement only provided for a public hearing.