CROG executive committee approves proposed operating budget with 3% staff wage increase

The CROG executive committee voted to approve the proposed operating budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 after a staff presentation and a motion by Steve Stefano, seconded by Lisa Thomas. Committee members indicated their approval by voice and the motion passed.

Staff framed the proposal as balanced and designed to maintain current services. "It's balanced," Matt said during the presentation, and he described the budget as a single operating fund (no separate capital fund), with the majority of revenues coming from federal grants for transportation planning and other program grants and local dues comprising under 10% of revenues.

The proposed budget increases year-over-year by roughly $1 million to about $11 million, according to staff. Major departmental projections included approximately $4.5 million for transportation planning, about $1.4 million for regional planning and development, and roughly $1.6 million for public safety and homeland security. Staff also said the regional services grant is approximately $1.8 million and that most staffing and contract work are funded by a mix of federal and state sources.

The budget includes a 3% general wage increase for all regular staff, while broad merit increases were not funded; managers said targeted market or promotion adjustments could be made for individual employees. Matt also said the organization is considering a modest dues increase for fiscal year 2028 — roughly an 11.5% increase for the majority of members — but any dues change would be discussed through the personnel and finance committee before coming back to the board.

Following a short period for questions, Steve Stefano moved to approve the budget and Lisa Thomas seconded. The committee voted by voice and the motion passed; staff said they will present the approved budget to the full policy board in two weeks.

The committee also reviewed program-level priorities supported by the budget, including continued federal infrastructure and grant pursuit, transportation planning work through the MPO, regional housing strategy administration, brownfields projects, and public safety grant administration. Staff emphasized the dependency on grant funding and noted that local dues remain a relatively small share of the revenue mix.

Next steps: the executive committee approved the budget and staff will bring it to the policy board for final consideration.