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player ready...As local governing bodies work on their 2027 budgets, the Lake County Council is looking at approving 4% salary increases for county employees.
The council held its first budget workshop meeting on Thursday, following its monthly study session. Lake County Councilman Ted Bilski, D-6th, made the motion for 4% salary increases, excluding any department that is under contract negotiations.
The motion passed in a 6-0 vote. Councilman Charlie Brown, D-3rd, was absent from Thursday’s budget workshop and study session.
Although the council voted for the salary increases, they will have multiple budget readings and workshops. Changes can be made until the budget is officially approved by the council.
Before the vote Thursday, Councilman Pete Lindemulder, R-4th, said the council reserves the right to make any changes to salary increases, especially after looking at some reorganizations in county departments.
The council’s budget workshop came after its 10 a.m. study session, where Paul Petrie, Lake County’s deputy director of homeland security and emergency management, asked the council to approve $25,000 for department employees. The funds would come from other underutilized portions of the department’s budget.
Councilman David Hamm, D-1st, told Petrie that he thinks it would be odd to approve any financial reorganization a month before the 2027 budget is complete. Petrie said he’s fine with waiting for salary increases until next year if the other departments are also receiving increases.
The council is set to vote on the emergency management salary increase request at its next meeting on Tuesday.
Councilman Randy Niemeyer, R-7th, said in the council’s last two budget cycles, they’ve “had a real focus” on eliminating longstanding vacant positions.
“Some of the (reorganizations) are addressing that, so our departments are, in some cases, taking the bull by the horns, looking at more skilled and credential positions for measurable results-type budgeting rather than, ‘Well, that position’s always been there, so we’re going to fund it, and then we’ll transfer it later’,” Niemeyer said. “Continuing in that vein of still analyzing some longstanding vacant positions, along with those (reorganizations), if they help us meet those goals, I think that’s great.”
Originally, Bilski asked if the council could look at 3% raise for departments throughout county government, but he asked if the number could be increased at all. Scott Schmal, Lake County’s financial director, said the total county payroll is about $100 million, and every 1% represents $1 million.
The overall growth quotient for the county, with all entities, this year totals 6%, Schmal said, meaning the levy can increase by that much. The county could go up to that much, but Schmal said they don’t have to.
“I don’t know that 6% would be a great move,” he said, “because we still have utility costs, insurance costs. There are other competing interests that we have.”
Schmal said the county’s financial health “continues to head in the right direction.”
“That’s a testament to your decisions and your work, especially for the last three years,” he said. “We continue to target increases in reserves, and we’ve done that year-after-year, despite some of the challenges … I think it needs to continue in the right direction just simply based on how Senate Bill 1 will impact the county at some point.”