Aaron, the county finance staff member who introduced the budget item, asked the board to approve a cost-of-living increase for the upcoming budget cycle. "As of right now, it'd be a 3% cost of living increase for nonunion members," he said, adding the figure could rise to 3.25% depending on the July Northeast CPI-W data. He said final data would be available by the end of the week.
A commissioner moved to "approve [the] COLA not to exceed 3.25%," a motion that was seconded and approved by voice vote. The board recorded the motion as carried.
The presenter told commissioners that the union COLA figures were expected to range between 3% and 3.5%, and that the requested approval would simply allow the finance office to plug a working COLA number into the personnel budget as staff build the budget. The board noted that the final COLA number would be revisited later in the budget process.
No additional data was requested during the vote; the board approved the authorization to use a COLA up to 3.25% for nonunion employees to begin building the personnel budget.