Page County supervisors set tentative 3% salary guideline, ask departments to seek 3–5% savings

The Page County Board of Supervisors provided tentative budget guidance to department heads, asking them to prepare budgets using a starting salary percentage of 3% and to seek internal reductions.

Speaker 5 proposed that department heads be challenged to find 3–5% savings in their budgets "to just take out any waste," emphasizing this should not target staffing reductions but look for nonessential expenditures. After discussion, supervisors agreed to a starting 3% salary figure for budget preparation so elected officials and department heads could run numbers, with the caveat that final figures may change when insurance costs are known. Kristen was scheduled to meet with insurance representatives on the 16th to provide more accurate cost projections.

The board said it would use the tentative 3% figure to allow departments to move forward and noted previous employee participation in health-insurance incentive programs had reduced costs by about 5% in prior years. Supervisors also discussed longer-term considerations such as the impact of adding two supervisors following an upcoming election, including associated salaries and equipment needs.

The board directed staff to treat the guidance as preliminary and to return with updated figures once insurance and other variables were clarified.