Butler County staff told commissioners the proposed 2026 budget includes a compensation and classification study and related pay adjustments intended to align county salaries with market comparators.

Staff said the study and associated adjustments are budgeted at roughly $2.7 million, with approximately $2.2 million allocated to compensation and classification changes and the remainder for decompression (compress/ decompression adjustments designed to preserve pay differences among long‑tenured employees). Officials said they expect preliminary compensation numbers in early August and a final policy and pay range package in September, with full implementation timing dependent on policy decisions.

Health insurance assumptions were also described. Staff said the county’s self‑insurance fund is about 100% funded (roughly a year’s worth of claims in reserve) and that a change in stop‑loss arrangements and pharmacy-network contracts has reduced expected costs by roughly $200,000–$300,000 annually. As a result, staff proposed a one‑time “rate holiday” — returning the equivalent of one month of employer contributions to employees — while keeping monthly contribution levels flat going forward.

Why it matters: personnel costs are the largest recurring expenditure in the county budget. Commissioners repeatedly pressed staff for specific, line‑by‑line cost estimates before adopting the budget, saying they need detailed tallies of which positions and salary ranges would change and how decompression would be allocated.

What officials said about timing and scope:
- The study vendor will survey roughly 15 comparable local governments and provide early numbers by August; formal policy documents and final ranges were expected in September.
- Staff proposed using a mix of market adjustments and a minimum 5% adjustment where positions are below market; details will be finalized after the vendor’s analysis.

Staff cautioned that numbers in the current packet are preliminary and will be adjusted as the study produces final recommendations. Commissioners asked staff to return with a more granular allocation of the proposed compensation funding and the projected impact on the mill levy and individual departments before final action.

Ending: staff said they would provide more detailed compensation tables once the vendor’s survey results are available and asked commissioners for direction on the desired timeline for implementation.