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Elberfeld council approves 2026 budget, extends wellness benefit to town marshal and approves raises
Summary
Elberfeld's town council approved the 2026 budget, passed an ordinance adding the town marshal to a $750 monthly health-and-wellness benefit (with a retroactive month), and approved a $1-an-hour raise for employees with a prorating approach to implementation.
The Elberfeld Town Council voted to approve the town's 2026 budget and moved forward on several personnel and benefits changes during its October meeting.
Council members approved the 2026 budget after a motion and second; the voice vote was recorded with one abstention. The council also passed Ordinance 2025-03 to formally adopt the town's published codification and Ordinance 2025-01 to amend the prior benefits ordinance so the town marshal is eligible for the existing $750-per-month health-and-wellness benefit. The ordinance also provides one additional monthly payment to cover the period before adoption so the marshal receives the September payment despite the ordinance being adopted in October.
Why it matters: Adding the marshal to the monthly benefit expands a fringe benefit previously available to other full-time employees and creates a small one-time retroactive payment. Council members said the change corrects an earlier exclusion and brings parity to full-time staff.
On pay, the council agreed to a $1-per-hour wage increase for all town employees. Council discussion focused on whether raises should be implemented immediately or formalized later via a resolution and how to prorate raises for salaried versus hourly employees. Stacy (staff member) explained historical practice used a 2,000-hour annual basis for salaried calculations and recommended prorating the increase for the remainder of the year; council members asked staff to prepare resolution language for the next meeting to formalize the effective date and payroll treatment.
"I can draft a resolution for next meeting because it has to do with income for the town," Stacy said, describing how the raise could be presented formally.
Council members refined motion language to state the hourly increases would take effect in the next payroll period and proposed a pro rata adjustment to the marshal's annual salary (an approximate $2,800 annual pro rata increase effective Oct. 13).
What's next: Staff will draft resolution language for formal ratification at a future meeting so payroll changes can be implemented and recorded according to state income reporting rules.
