Harney County adopts 4% COLA, trims library staff and keeps $200,000 reserve transfer in proposed budget

Harney County Court approved a proposed budget that includes a 4% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for all county employees and rejects a simultaneous across‑the‑board step increase, approved the OSU Extension appropriation, and voted to reduce library staffing by one full‑time equivalent (FTE). The court also approved continuing a $200,000 annual transfer into the county’s operating reserve as part of the proposed budget.

Budget officer and county judge (speaking as the budget officer) proposed two alternatives at the start of the hearing: a 4% COLA for all employees with no step increases, or a lower COLA combined with selective step increases for particular positions. The court voted to adopt the 4% COLA with no step increases as the personnel assumption in the proposed budget. "My proposal this year for the budget is a 4% across the board COLA for everybody in the county," the budget officer said during the meeting, and later moved the 4% COLA option for approval. The motion was seconded and carried. The court explicitly declined to allow combined step increases plus a full COLA because that would, members said, effectively result in much larger raises for some employees (for example, a 5% step plus 4% COLA would give a near 9% total increase).

Why it matters: Commissioners and department heads framed the vote as a tradeoff between fairness, longevity-based step increases and long‑term fiscal stability. Several department heads asked the court to consider individual step increases for employees they said had been missed in prior years; the District Attorney and public health director described particular positions that department leaders wanted evaluated for late or overdue step progressions. The budget officer and other court members said Harney County is still rebuilding its reserves following a prior budget shortfall and that the county must balance fairness toward long‑serving employees with the risk of drawing down reserves to unsustainable levels.

What the court approved and what remains unresolved: The court approved four formal items during the session that will go into the proposed budget delivered to the budget committee and the public: - 4% COLA for all county employees, with no step increases included in that calculation (motion carried). - Approval of the OSU Extension budget request as presented (motion carried). - Reduction of 1.0 FTE in the library department as set out in the budget draft (motion carried). - Continuation of a $200,000 annual transfer from the general fund to the county operating reserve (motion carried).

The District Attorney’s office presented a substantive request for an additional 0.75 FTE (30 hours per week) support position to help process intake, monitor dispatch logs for probation violations, support the crime victims advocate and reduce discovery delays. The DA reported a preliminary estimate for a 30‑hour position at $55,577 in total annual cost, including roughly $9,093 in employer benefits (self-only). The court discussed but did not adopt the DA’s FTE request during the session; members agreed to leave the position out of the proposed budget for now and to revisit the request if additional state or grant funding (for example, deflection program funds) materializes later in the year. The DA said some portion of deflection-grant funds might be available to offset about $12,900 of the new position’s cost if the county chose to apply those funds.

Other pressures noted by court and department heads: Several county officials warned of multiple items that will further pressure the general fund in coming years, including: - A projected increase in county insurance premiums (property and liability premium estimates were discussed as rising by an estimated 13–17%). - A $9,000 potential added cost tied to Medical Legal Death Investigator (MLDI/ME) travel and training if new investigators must be recruited and trained. - Predator-control costs under contract with USDA: the county received a letter estimating next-year program costs near $94,500; anticipated Taylor Grazing Act receipts were roughly $29,000. County staff said keeping the predator control program at current service levels would require a county general‑fund transfer of about $11,000 this year and could require larger transfers in future years if federal grazing receipts remain low.

Library staffing: The proposed budget reduces library FTE by one full position. The library director explained how the reductions would affect meeting attendance, grant work and frontline customer service and said permanent credentialing (a master's degree in library science) matters for some grants, but the county responded that the library director’s duties and staffing should be set at the governing‑body level in the budget process. The court approved the 1.0 FTE reduction as presented in the budget draft; the judge said that if a future vacancy occurs the county would expect to fund a replacement at a full FTE level.

Process and next steps: The budget officer said the proposed budget will be finalized and provided to the budget committee and public (the plan was to distribute draft copies to departments for final review, then to the budget committee at least one week before the first budget committee meeting). Court members asked department heads to produce job descriptions and any needed supporting documentation (the county is completing a class-and-compensation study intended to provide a pay‑matrix and clearer promotion/step guidance later in the year). The court agreed to revisit the DA position request later by supplemental appropriation or by resolution if new state or grant revenues arrive.

Votes at a glance (formal motions recorded into the meeting minutes): - 4% COLA with no step increases — motion made by the budget officer; seconded; motion carried (vote announced as "aye" with no recorded nay). - OSU Extension budget request (county portion) — motion to approve as presented; seconded; motion carried. - Library: reduction of 1.0 FTE — motion to approve the reduction; seconded; motion carried. - Transfer to operating reserve: $200,000 — motion to continue the annual $200,000 transfer to operating reserve in the proposed budget; seconded; motion carried.

What the court did not do: No wage‑reclassification or step increases were adopted beyond the 4% COLA; the DA’s requested 0.75 FTE was not added to the proposed budget and awaits either a supplemental appropriation or new external revenues before it is funded.

The court scheduled distribution of the proposed budget to the budget committee and set the first budget committee meeting per the county’s schedule; members said they wanted the budget committee to have time to review materials in advance so that department presentations at the budget committee would be focused on questions and priorities rather than rehashing routine line items.

Ending: The court emphasized the tradeoffs they faced — addressing long‑overdue step increases for a small number of employees versus protecting the county’s reserves and ability to sustain mandated services. Court members said they expect to revisit personnel and grant-dependent requests (including the DA request and predator program funding) if state or federal funding becomes available later in the fiscal year.