AUBURN — The Androscoggin County Commission voted 5-2 Wednesday night to give nonunion employees a 2.3% cost-of-living adjustment in 2024.
County Administrator Clarice Proctor said several counties around the state were planning on a 3% COLA, and she wanted Androscoggin County to keep pace and not keep falling behind the other counties in salaries.
Commissioner Garrett Mason of Lisbon argued against using COLAs as a salary adjustment tool. Salary surveys should be conducted to see where Androscoggin fits in with the other counties, he said.
“I’m not interested in treating COLAs as pay raises,” Mason said. “I’m interested in treating COLAs as COLAs.”
He suggested 2.3% because it is the current consumer price index for the month of June, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Commissioner Andrew Lewis of Auburn suggested a 2.7% compromise, while Edouard Plourde of Lewiston appeared to favor the 3% proposed by Proctor.
In a 5-2 roll call vote, requested by Plourde, Mason, Chairman Sally Christner of Turner, Roland Poirier and Brian Ames, both of Lewiston, and Terri Kelly of Mechanic Falls voted for the 2.3% adjustment. Plourde and Lewis voted no.
The adjustment will add $44,630.71 to next next year’s county budget, Proctor said.
In other business, commissioners approved a contract offer with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union representing the Supervisory Command Unit in the Sheriff’s Office, which consists of four individuals. The two-year contract, which ends Dec. 31, 2025, provides those supervisors with a 4% annual raise.
In another matter, resident Scott Berry of Auburn, who said he has worked 40 years rehabbing buildings, suggested that commissioners move the county offices into a new building and turn the 166-year-old courthouse on Turner Street into a fine arts museum. That would preserve the building, attract tourists, enhance civic pride and promote art and culture, he said.
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