>Not nearly as good as you made out, but I got a $2300 bonus and a 4.4% raise.

I've never heard of a government employer giving bonuses before (in Canada). Is this common in the US? I work for a hospital here... while is isn't directly for the government, it still is in the public service. I would imagine if the hospital gaves bonuses there would be a big newspaper story about patients going without treatment and someone would can canned.