Finance Committee recommends forwarding 2026–27 budget with revised COLA and pay-study implementation

The Finance Committee voted to recommend the FY2026–27 annual budget and tax-rate ordinance to the full board after staff reported modest revenue gains, a revised COLA schedule (2.4% in July and a 0.5% increase in February), lower-than-expected pay-study reclassification costs and vacancy-based savings that closed a roughly $700,000 shortfall.