Warren County approves 3.5% raise for 2026 nonunion staff after debate over revenue uncertainty

Warren County officials voted to approve a 3.5% across-the-board increase for all nonunion county employees for 2026, a measure proponents said is aimed at retaining and recruiting staff but opponents warned could be premature given uncertain revenue projections.

The motion to approve the increase was made by Speaker 2 and seconded by Speaker 1; the vote tally was announced in the meeting as 3 yes to 2 no. The motion explicitly included previously committed adjustments for several staff, including specific $2,500 adjustments for named 9-1-1 employees who absorbed additional duties.

Supporters said benchmarking and retention motivated the vote. "I would like to make a motion to approve that at a 3 and a half percent increase across the board equally and including those particular items that we had committed to last year," Speaker 2 said when making the motion. Speaker 2 emphasized the need to retain talent and compared the countyto peer counties in earlier remarks.

Opponents urged caution. Speaker 3 warned that several management positions "will be grossly affected," saying some supervisors might "return out of management to be probation officers because they will make more money as a probation officer than as a supervisor or a director." Speaker 1 also urged delaying final action until assessment and revenue figures "shake out a little bit."

Officials discussed revenue timing and appeals that underpinned the hesitancy. Speaker 3 reported 27 appeals as of Thursday and Speaker 2 said there were 41 appeals on Friday, citing roughly 60 appeals overall in the transcript. Speaker 4 told the group the county was taking a conservative approach because projected tax-basis revenue could be uncertain and said the county had in past years used temporary borrowing to bridge cash flow.

The board recorded the motion as approved and moved on to other personnel items on the agenda. The meeting transcript contains some unclear numeric references (for example, a multi-million-dollar salary figure and a separate smaller amount were mentioned in a way that was not clearly articulated); those items were not used to alter the reporting of the vote in this article.

Next procedural steps mentioned in the meeting included ongoing review of budget and revenue projections; speakers said further discussion would continue as more certain assessment and collection data arrive.