Commissioners discuss COLA, market adjustments and merit pay ahead of budgeting deadline

The county’s employee services director briefed commissioners on a self-conducted salary survey comparing Christian County pay ranges with peer counties and municipalities. The director said most salary ranges are “generally in line” but identified several titles that are below market and recommended market-based adjustments to the county’s salary matrix to improve recruitment and retention. Commissioners discussed whether to add a broad COLA and how that would interact with targeted market adjustments and merit increases. One commissioner said a COLA of about 3 percent would align with recent CPI figures and argued the county’s most important asset is employees. The HR director said she routinely supports merit-based raises for top performers and described merit increases as typically moving staff toward higher points in the salary matrix; she estimated roughly one-quarter of staff receive merit-based adjustments in a typical year. Ending: Commissioners instructed HR to prepare detailed cost estimates for both targeted market adjustments and a possible COLA so the commission can finalize the 2026 budget by the county’s internal deadline.