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Columbia County adopts 2025 budgets and a new salary schedule with 3% COLA
Summary
Commissioners adopted 2025 current-expense, public works and various other budgets and approved a 2025 salary schedule that includes a 3% cost-of-living adjustment and conversion of most nonexempt positions to hourly pay; staff will implement changes after HR consultants finalize recommendations.
Columbia County commissioners adopted the county—s 2025 budgets and approved a new salary schedule after public hearings and staff presentations on Dec. 16, 2024. The board approved Resolution 2024-39 (current expense), Resolution 2024-40 (Public Works) and Resolution 2024-41 (various budgets) following a public hearing and brief discussion.
County human-resources staff and the county administrator told commissioners the 2025 salary schedule includes a 3% cost-of-living adjustment and restores a 30-step progression. For the first time the county will convert most nonexempt positions to hourly pay so overtime and hours worked are reflected transparently on paychecks. "We're planning to pay all nonexempt workers on an hourly basis next year," a staff presenter said when summarizing the changes.
Officials said the hourly conversion is intended to increase pay transparency; the county estimated the 3% COLA and schedule changes in the adopted budgets. Staff told the board that HR consultants (HRCC) are finalizing a compensation study and will deliver a final package in January to guide implementation and any reclassification decisions.
Commissioners emphasized that the annual totals in the budgets are not changing as part of the pay-format conversion, but individual paychecks may vary between pay periods because some pay periods include more workdays than others. The board approved the 2025 salary schedule by voice vote; the chair announced the motion carried.
The board also completed several budget housekeeping items earlier in the meeting, including Resolution 2024-38 amending the 2024 budgets to record prior-year adjustments and a separate resolution to seed a healthcare reimbursement fund with $200,000 from LATCF (Resolution 2024-45). The LA(T)CF funds were described in the meeting as ARPA-related funding with restrictions noted by staff.
