Commercial Point reviews proposed 2026 budget; officials discuss pay steps, police vehicles, streets and utility projects

Speaker 1 (Unidentified Speaker) opened a page-by-page review of the village's proposed 2026 permanent budget, saying the document lays out salary lines, capital requests and fund allocations for the coming year. The council and staff discussed how to balance cost-of-living increases, merit steps and capital needs while preserving replacement cycles for vehicles and infrastructure.

The budget conversation centered on two pay issues: a proposed 3% cost-of-living adjustment for 2026 and separate step increases (described in the meeting as 2.5%) for the following year. Speaker 3 clarified that the 3% amount was presented as a cost-of-living raise and that step increases are tied to merit. Speaker 2 argued for concentrating larger increases at employees' top pay step, saying, "we're we're hemorrhaging money," and urging that higher adjustments be used to retain long-tenured staff while avoiding large raises for very new hires.

Beyond personnel, participants flagged several capital and operating items. Two new police sergeant…