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Pike County Fiscal Court adopts budget amendment and hears proposed FY2026 budget with 2.7% COLA
Summary
The Pike County Fiscal Court adopted Budget Amendment No.1 and received the judgeproposal that includes a 2.7% cost-of-living increase for county employees and sizable insurance and flood-recovery line items.
The Pike County Fiscal Court voted to adopt Budget Amendment No.1 and received a full presentation of the proposed fiscal-year 2026 county budget at its regular meeting.
Judge Ray S. Jones presented the proposed budget, which includes a 2.7% cost-of-living increase for all county employees to match local CPI measures, and several large line items for insurance, flood recovery and capital projects. The court adopted Amendment No.1, presented as a correction of $1,319,626.80 to the books, by roll-call vote.
The judge outlined cost pressures in the package: health insurance premiums are budgeted to increase by 4.83% (from about $2,764,000 to roughly $3,187,000), general liability coverage rose by 17% (an increase of roughly $317,886), and workerscomp costs rose by 12% (an increase noted of $88,371). The budget also reports a slight decrease in the countycoal/mineral severance revenues compared with prior years; the court budgeted $1.4 million for severance but the judge said receipts are likely to fall short this year.
A substantial portion of the proposed capital and grant revenue comes from federal and federal-state programs tied to recent floods: the judge listed a $14 million FEMA home-buyout budget line and a $15 million NRCS home-buyout allocation, noting these funds are earmarked for flood repairs and carry legal conditions. The proposed budget also includes $1 million in carried ARPA funds and several capital requests in public works totaling millions for vehicles, equipment and road projects.
Court members asked staff to clarify parts of the package and were reminded that some federal grant obligations and project approvals remain subject to state or federal administration and timelines. The judge urged care in managing earmarked funds, warning that misspending federally designated funds could create significant legal liability for the county.
The court adopted the budget amendment as presented and moved the proposed FY2026 budget forward (first reading acknowledged during the meeting). Next steps include finalizing budget documents for the filing deadlines and following up on the line-item details staff flagged for clarification.
