Committee issues 2% COLA guidance and approves prorating of small longevity payments
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Summary
With revenue estimates not yet available, the committee advised departments to plan on a 2% cost-of-living adjustment and approved a staff proposal to prorate small longevity payments to elected officials over pay periods rather than issuing a lump-sum payment.
The Sumner County General Operations Committee set fiscal planning guidance of 2% for departmental cost-of-living adjustments and approved a change to how small longevity payments to certain elected officials are paid.
Facing incomplete revenue estimates, staff recommended issuing conservative COLA guidance so department budget planning would not produce wide variances. The committee voted to provide 2% guidance for budget-planning purposes while noting that final appropriations will follow more complete revenue projections.
On payroll practice, staff and commissioners discussed a long-standing county practice of issuing small lump-sum longevity payments (citations in the meeting ranged about $556 to $714 per official). The committee adopted a motion directing the finance department to prorate those small amounts across pay periods going forward to reduce payroll administration issues.
Both actions were framed as administrative and planning steps rather than final appropriations. The committee asked finance to report implementation details at the next meeting and to show the fiscal effect when updated revenue estimates are available.