Putnam County committee moves multiple 2.75% COLA adjustments, places PIO and arts funding in sub-contingency

Putnam County — The Budget & Finance Committee met Oct. 17 and approved a series of budget adjustments for the 2025 fiscal year, moving several 2.75% cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) out of sub-contingency into operating lines and placing selected outside-agency requests into sub-contingency for later committee review.

Legislators voted to move COLA funding for the county clerk, sheriff administrative staff and a set of additional personnel lines — including legislative and executive staff — out of sub-contingency into their respective salary lines. Committee members described most of the salary actions as bookkeeping and routine cost-of-living adjustments. “This is not a merit raise. It’s a cost-of-living adjustment,” said one legislator during the debate, urging the committee to approve the change as a separate matter from unsettled union negotiations.

That remark came amid repeated proposals from another member urging restraint: “I propose any raises or salary adjustments for elected officials to be kept in sub contingency until all outstanding collective bargaining agreements for our public workforce have been fully addressed,” said an unidentified legislator (speaker 12) during the…