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Administrator outlines budget timeline, 1% COLA and concerns about staff retention
Summary
County administrator Ron discussed budget timelines (department budgets due Aug. 17), the budget team recommendation to streamline presentation days for exec & finance, and that executive finance supported including at least a 1% cost‑of‑living adjustment and step increase in the 2027 budget; board members expressed concern about retaining staff with limited pay increases.
County administrator Ron reviewed fiscal and personnel items and the budget team's work: department budgets were distributed and are due back by Aug. 17; the budget team recommended returning to two days of executive and finance presentations rather than sending the full exec & finance committee to each home committee meeting.
"We're gonna be wrapping things up shortly on the budget team," Ron said, noting department heads have been asked to keep budgets flat and improve revenue estimates. He also said executive finance supported including a 1% COLA and step increase in the '27 budget as a baseline.
A board member raised concerns about the 1% offer and staff retention: "I just wanna get out of the cycle of training employees to do a job and then having them leave to another county," the member said, urging higher pay to retain trained staff. Ron said the 1% COLA is the starting foundation and he will continue to work budgets to identify additional capacity if available.
