Ordinance committee recommends 3% pay adjustment for nonunion town employees

The ordinance committee voted to recommend to the full town council a salary ordinance that applies a 3% cost-of-living adjustment to nonunion town employees.

The proposed ordinance, presented by a town official, raises the minimum, midpoint and maximum pay ranges for covered positions by 3 percent. The official said union contracts were already settled and the nonunion adjustment is intended to keep the town competitive for recruitment, especially for harder-to-fill specialist roles. “This was, again, this is a cost of living adjustment for the nonunion folks that work here at the town,” the town official said.

Committee members sought clarity on how the new ranges are shown in the document and how current incumbents and new hires would fall into the adjusted ranges. A member asked whether the posted "current" column already reflected the 3% increase; staff confirmed the presented current column includes the adjustment. The official noted the town has been without an engineer for six months, illustrating recruitment pressures that informed the proposal.

The committee moved and seconded a recommendation to the full council; members approved the recommendation by voice vote. The motion noted the expenditure has already been approved in the budget process and the ordinance formalizes the pay ranges.

What happens next: The committee referred the ordinance to the full council for adoption. The committee record indicates the budget line and prior approvals were discussed, but the full council will take the final adoption vote.