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Commissioners direct new budgeting approach: personnel flat in provisional budgets, options for COLA/steps to be costed
Summary
The Board of County Commissioners directed county departments to prepare 2026 provisional budgets with personnel costs held flat at 2025 levels (except known payouts), and asked staff to return separate cost scenarios for 1–3% COLA options and step increases so the board can weigh personnel choices against capital and program priorities.
The Board of County Commissioners on May 6 discussed guidance for the 2026 budget cycle and directed county staff to produce a multi-part budgeting package that isolates personnel scenarios from departmental base budget submissions.
Commissioners said departments should prepare their normal provisional budgets for 2026 but keep personnel lines flat at 2025 levels except for known, pre-identified anomalies (for example retirements that trigger payouts). The commission requested the commission office — with assistance from the auditor and HR — to provide separate cost calculations showing the county-wide fiscal impact for these personnel options: (a) 1%, 2% and 3% cost‑of‑living increases (COLA), and (b) the budget impact of step increases on the county wage scale. Commissioners also asked departments to submit any new FTE requests or program expansions as separate line items so elected leaders can evaluate them independently.
Why it matters: Commissioners said they want a transparent, data-driven process that lets the board compare the cost of personnel changes to capital and operating requests and to longer-range projects such as jail planning or infrastructure commitments. Several commissioners also asked that contract and memorandum-of-understanding inventories be maintained centrally so the board and staff can track expirations and budget dependencies.
Next steps: The commission office and auditor will collaborate to provide the requested personnel-cost scenarios and a consolidated list of county agreements for commissioners to review. The board also instructed staff to bring proposed phone/kiosk costs for the treasurer’s office and the $50,000 Western Dakota contribution request into the 2026 budget discussion. Commissioners said they expect regular updates during the budget season.
