Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Municipal Finance Salaries topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Columbus council advances 2026 salary ordinances, adds staff and IT funding; council pay increase clears first reading
Summary
On first reading the council approved multiple salary ordinances that move city payroll to a biweekly cadence, include a proposed 3% increase for sworn public‑safety personnel, a 2.7% COLA for eligible full‑time employees, and create new positions for data analysis, engineering technician support and IT; votes recorded varied by ordinance.
Columbus Common Council on Sept. 16 advanced multiple 2026 salary ordinances on first reading that collectively change pay cadences, set proposed increases and add several staff positions across departments. Council recorded 9–0 first‑reading votes on the Fire Department and Police Department salary ordinances and an 8–1 first‑reading vote on the ordinance fixing Common Council member pay. Other salary ordinances were moved forward on first reading; where the transcript did not record a roll call, vote tallies are not specified.
City human‑resources and finance staff described three common changes across the ordinances: conversion to a biweekly wage cadence (to match payroll), adoption of a payroll calendar year, and a 3% proposed pay increase for sworn fire and police personnel. "This was a work that took many meetings, 3 meetings, lots of edits, and I appreciate all of you — this was truly a team effort," Arlette Cooper, who presented the ordinances, said when introducing the Fire Department proposal.
Staff outlined additional details for civilian employees: a COLA pegged to the June 30 consumer‑price index that would provide a 2.7% increase for full‑time employees outside their introductory period, and room in the proposed budget for merit increases up to about 4% depending on performance evaluations. The civilian ordinance also proposes two new positions: a 0.725 full‑time‑equivalent criminal‑intelligence analyst (about 29 hours per week) and a full‑time senior engineering technician to support CityWorks usage across utilities, engineering and public works.
Council members and staff framed several of the staffing additions as responses to operational needs and security concerns. "This city got hacked more or less about a year and a half ago," President Miller said during the discussion about IT restructuring; that incident and recent state guidance on cybersecurity were cited as drivers for creating or reclassifying positions inside the technology department and for adding other security and operational roles.
A member of the public, Carrie Sonnevaldi, questioned the scale of some salary changes and asked for comparative analyses showing the fiscal tradeoffs and whether new positions reduce overtime costs. City staff and council members responded that some positions are required by statute (for example, a deputy controller to meet state finance requirements for a Class 2 city), that reclassifications were done to align with accrual accounting and new duties, and that IT restructuring addresses security needs and a recent state IT security statute that went into effect July 1.
Recorded first‑reading votes in the meeting packet and roll call: the Fire Department salary ordinance passed first reading 9–0; the Police Department salary ordinance passed first reading 9–0; the ordinance fixing Common Council member salaries passed first reading 8–1. The packet and staff said detailed salary schedules and the full ordinances are available on the city website for public review. Second readings and any additional appropriations or budget votes will return to the council at a later date.
Council members also discussed making data and systems more public, including dashboards for infrastructure conditions, and staff noted that some software (CityWorks) is currently paid for but not fully utilized until a dedicated technician is assigned.
