Employee pay raises and stipends would cost nearly $800,000 next year if Wayne County Council formally approves its working plan.
Council discussed employee compensation during a Sept. 29 special meeting focused on the 2027 budget. Council advertised a $45,399,438 general fund budget that included a $1.25 million placeholder for pay increases.
A public hearing on the 2027 budget was scheduled for 8 a.m. Oct. 7, with budget adoption expected during the 6 p.m. Oct. 21 council/commissioners workshop. Details about the total $68,947,345 advertised budget are available on the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance’s Gateway website, wwn.to/budgets26. The budget can be decreased but not increased after posting to DLGF’s website.
Waggoner Irwin Scheele & Assoc. of Muncie annually provides council compensation data from similarly sized counties and identifies the compensation midpoint for each job classification among those counties. Council discussed raising each classification’s pay to those midpoints and providing an additional 1% increase. That was estimated to cost $739,569.60.
“We’ve got great employees, and they need to be fairly compensated,” council member Jeff Cappa said.
Only two county employees currently exceed the midpoint for their job classifications. Council agreed each would receive a 1% raise.
The raises do not apply to elected officials, which, in turn, impacts chief deputy salaries. Elected officials’ compensation ranks highly compared with similar counties, and chief deputies’ salaries are 80% of the elected officials’ rate. Council opted to provide eight elected officials impacted and the chief deputies with $1,000 stipends that do not raise their base rates leading into future budgets.
Council also will apply the $1,000 stipends for county commissioners. The president’s compensation this year is $44,956, while the two other commissioners receive $40,870.
Because state legislation requires county council in 2028 to adopt local income taxes impacting towns, townships, libraries and schools, council members thought the increased responsibilities and time commitment deserve a $5,000 compensation boost. Six councilors will receive $19,714, up from $14,714, while the council president will receive $21,686, which is $5,498 more than the current $16,188.
“There’s been a huge uptick in all the things that we’re responsible for as council members since I started eight years ago,” said council member Beth Leisure, who proposed the council increases. “We’re going to be expected to do a whole lot more, and we’re also going to be taking the hit for doing it.”
With compensation increases costing about $450,000 less than the placeholder, that makes up the majority of the nearly $700,000 council trimmed from the general fund budget during their discussion.
“It’s hard, because everybody did so well this year,” council member Misty Hollis said about departmental requests.
Council thoroughly discussed the election board’s budget with Clerk Tara Pegg. In 2027, only Richmond and the county’s towns could have elections, and towns reimburse the county for expenses. Therefore, council trimmed $81,200 from the proposed $171,700 budget.
Council also tweaked several line items to trim about $100,000 from the jail budget, and Amy Chenowith, who is running unopposed in November’s auditor election, voluntarily removed that office’s requested $4,000 for overtime. Another $63,000 was dropped from the coroner’s autopsy budget with the understanding the coroner could ask for more if expenses exceed $100,000.
The work reduced the proposed general fund budget to about $44.7 million, which exceeds by about $9.2 million the $35,511,832 revenue estimate provided by consultant C.L. Coonrod & Company. There remains $3 million padding in council’s one-time expenditures line item to ensure the DLGF approves the maximum tax levy.
After council approves a budget, it is submitted to DLGF, which can require reductions. Last year, for example, DLGF did require council remove the extra $3 million in one-time expenditures from the 2026 general fund budget before it would certify the $40,052,111 budget.
Council member Misty Hollis questioned the high budget, but other members said the budget must be higher to receive the maximum property tax revenue. Council reviewed figures that showed the county spent just 88% of the 2025 general fund budget, 85% in 2024 and 93% in 2023.
Hollis noted that in 2025 the county received $32,348,652 in general fund revenue, but spent $33,806,241 from the general fund. Financial statements the county submits to DLGF show the county also spent more from the general fund than its revenue during 2023, 2022 and 2021. Council members theorized that unbudgeted additional appropriations account for the differences.
The general fund’s cash balance to begin 2026 was $11,345,084.65, according to the 2025 financial statement, and Hollis wondered if the plan was to use that cash.
“Until we submit and DLGF tells us to cut, we’re still going to leave it high, over the 35 million,” Leisure said.
A version of this article appeared in the October 7 2026 print edition of the Western Wayne News.
