Cibolo staff present compensation study; council favors market alignment, asks about COLA costs

CIBOLO, Texas — City staff presented the results of a classification and compensation review for municipal positions at a workshop and sought council direction on market adjustments and cost-of-living increases for fiscal year 2026.

Miss Taplin, staff member, told the Cibolo City Council the study examined classification accuracy and pay competitiveness versus neighboring cities, and that the current review covered 50 employees or positions not included in the previous FY25 market work. She said the study also included individual pay models that factor an employee's experience and education.

The work builds on an earlier FY25 exercise that covered 119 employees in police, fire and public works. Taplin said that prior effort's market adjustments cost roughly $1.2 million for police and fire and about $400,000 for public works. For the current study, Taplin said staff produced cost estimates for moving affected positions to market midpoints and for possible cost-of-living adjustments (COLA).

Taplin reviewed COLA scenarios for all funds: a 2% COLA would increase payroll by about $209,000, a 3% COLA about $316,000 and a 4% COLA about $431,000, according to staff slides. Taplin also noted that the Bureau of Labor Statistics had not yet finalized a 2025 CPI number and that staff were using available data to estimate impact.

Council members generally expressed support for moving pay toward market and asked staff to consider COLA only if funding allows. One council member said, "I would like to do market and bring people as close to market as we can." Councilwoman Roberts and Councilman Mahoney voiced similar support for market adjustments while Councilwoman Roberts said she also wanted staff to evaluate individual performance and ensure salary increases align with expectations.

Taplin told council that of the positions reviewed, many pay grades below mid-level were lagging; the analysis identified pay grades 4 through 10 as areas with more lagging positions and the lowest observed market ratio in the study at about 85% for a specific position (staff to provide the position detail later).

No formal vote was taken. Council members asked staff to plan budget scenarios that prioritize bringing positions to market and to return with the cost implications for any COLA proposals so elected officials can consider those amounts during FY26 budget decisions.

Staff listed the peer jurisdictions used for benchmarking (Schertz, New Braunfels, Boerne, Live Oak, Seguin and others) and said additional data from Universal City and Converse were pending and would be incorporated when received. Taplin said the classification work included a job-description review and a job-evaluation point-factor analysis to assure internal equity before changing pay grades.