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Vice Chairman Jones asks board to consider commissioners' pay; board declines immediate change
Summary
Vice Chairman Jones asked the Cumberland County board to consider raises for commissioners at the June 23 meeting; other commissioners said any change would require staff to rewrite the budget ordinance and many favored prioritizing employee pay, so no change was made.
Vice Chairman Jones raised the possibility of increasing commissioners' compensation during the June 23 Cumberland County budget meeting, saying he had seen other North Carolina counties and cities adopt similar raises and asking the board to discuss the idea.
"I wanted to bring up... perhaps considering a budget a raise for the commissioners," Vice Chairman Jones said, asking staff to model options if the board wanted to pursue the idea. He said he wanted transparency and fairness in pay decisions.
Other commissioners responded that changing commissioner pay now would require staff to redo the budget ordinance and related documents. Some emphasized that the board had prioritized employee compensation in the adopted budget and that commissioners received the same 2.5% COLA provided to employees. Several members said they preferred to revisit the issue in a future study that would compare peer counties instead of making an immediate change.
No motion or vote to change commissioner compensation occurred during the meeting. Chair and other commissioners thanked staff and restated that any pay change would necessitate additional analysis and a future agenda item if the board seeks it.
The discussion was advisory only; the FY2027 budget ordinance as adopted contains the compensation and personnel provisions Shaw outlined, and any change to commissioners' pay would require staff modeling and a subsequent formal action by the board.
