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North Port commission moves to tie future commissioner raises to city employee cost‑of‑living adjustments
Summary
The commission voted 5‑0 to direct the city attorney to draft an ordinance setting the current compensation baseline and tying annual adjustments to the cost‑of‑living method used for city employees; the change would take effect after the next general city election.
On Nov. 4, 2025 the North Port City Commission voted unanimously to direct the city attorney to draft an ordinance that establishes the current commissioner compensation as the baseline and ties future annual increases to the same cost‑of‑living adjustments used for city employees.
Mayor Stokes opened the discussion saying the population‑based formula historically tied to compensation was no longer appropriate and that a cost‑of‑living approach would be simpler and more transparent. Commissioners debated whether to put the change into the city charter or to adopt an ordinance; several members favored sending any charter questions to the Charter Review Board but supported an ordinance to implement the immediate change.
City human resources director Christine McDade clarified the current employee approach: a 1.5 percent cost‑of‑living component plus an extra 1 percent related to minimum wage adjustments (2.5 percent in the current year), though the exact annual practice may vary. Commissioners discussed whether to tie commissioner adjustments to the same employee formula or to an external CPI measure and agreed to have the city attorney draft the ordinance with the recommended baseline and COLA linkage.
By law, any change to commissioner compensation will not take effect until after the next general city election; commissioners noted that timing and the ability of future commissions to approve or freeze adjustments remain in place.
What comes next: the city attorney will draft ordinance language for commission consideration, including baseline compensation, the COLA mechanism and language to allow the commission to forgo an annual increase if it chooses to do so by the vote spelled out in current law.
