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Commissioners agree to start FY22 pay planning with 2.5% step for county employees
Summary
As part of FY22 budget deliberations, St. Mary’s County commissioners directed staff to include a 2.5% step increase (a non-negotiated step, not a negotiated COLA) for all county employees and to compute the Board of Education equivalent for budgeting purposes.
St. Mary’s County commissioners on March 9 directed staff to include a 2.5% step increase for county employees as the baseline for FY22 compensation planning.
The board discussed pay pressure from neighboring jurisdictions and the governor’s proposals but said it could not simply match higher proposed increases elsewhere without knowing state actions and the county’s fiscal capacity. Commissioners described a 2.5% step as a starting point to quantify the payroll effect while they continued budget work. County staff said a 2.5% step is approximately $750,000 on the county side and that full payroll calculations would include health-insurance and other payroll effects; commissioners asked staff to compute the equivalent figure for the Board of Education so all employers’ budgets could be compared on the same basis.
The board directed staff to include the step in the ongoing budget spreadsheet and to return with updated revenue and expenditure projections at the next work session. The directive was procedural; commissioners did not adopt a final compensation package or a negotiated increase, which would be subject to collective-bargaining terms in certain cases and school negotiations for education staff.
