Warren County’s Board of Supervisors voted to adopt Local Law No. 1 of 2026, a measure that fixes salaries for certain county officers and employees, following a heated exchange about the scale of pay increases and merit awards.

A supervisor raised concerns on the record, presenting a 10-year look-back of county salaries and arguing the package—which includes merit increases plus a 3.125% cost-of-living adjustment for some staff—was inappropriate while the county is operating over the tax cap. “I really believe that, that 5 12, we should not be giving out any merit raises to anybody, alright, when we're over the tax cap,” the supervisor said during debate.

Supporters said the salary adjustments reflect market pressures and are part of the standard annual compensation and organizational updates. The roll-call vote on resolution 5 12 (enacting Local Law No. 1 of 2026) was completed and the clerk announced the measure as passed; the transcript records the final announcement as “Resolution passes with 7 90 votes in favor.” The transcript shows a mix of individual yes/no responses read aloud during the roll call.

The county clerk had earlier read notice that a public hearing on the proposed local law would be held and that a resolution to introduce the law was adopted by the Board on Nov. 21, 2025. The board’s discussion included requests for clearer supporting materials: one supervisor asked for a column showing current salary amounts alongside proposed amounts to aid decision-making.

For context, the local law was introduced as part of a packet that included multiple personnel- and budget-related updates and was considered alongside year-end appropriations. The adoption is administrative: the local law changes how certain county positions are paid; the board did not alter the text in public debate beyond members’ procedural and budgetary questions. According to the transcript, at least one supervisor recused from separate related votes earlier in the meeting but no recusal was recorded for the local-law roll call.

The next procedural step is administrative implementation of the adopted salary schedule and updating payroll and the county’s compensation plan documents as required by county policy and state rules. The transcript does not specify the effective date for the salary schedule beyond the law’s title year (2026).