The Rindge Select Board is grappling with how much of a Cost of Living Adjustment to give to its employees to account for rising inflation costs.
The board discussed employee pay during its meeting Wednesday in anticipation of upcoming meetings with department heads to begin reviewing their proposed budgets.
One measure the board uses to review the town’s cost of living adjustment is the COLA for Social Security benefits, which this year, is up by 8.7 percent.
Last year, the board increased salaries across the board by 4 percent, compared to the Social Security COLA increase of 5.9 percent.
Select Board member Karl Pruter noted that with step wage increases, most employees met the 5.9 percent increase last year.
“This year, I don’t know how we’re going to manage that,” Pruter said.
Pruter said the town had worked hard to create a step increase plan for town employees to stay competitive, but noted the market was still very tight for municipal employees.
“We just did a hire where we had two applicants, and one dropped out due to higher wages offered elsewhere,” Pruter said.
The board discussed possible COLA adjustments, with Pruter floating an adjustment between 4 and 5 percent, with board Chair Bob Hamilton saying he was also considering 5 percent.
The board agreed to delay the decision until the next Select Board meeting, to do further research into other town’s approach to COLA increases. The board is scheduled to meet next in a joint meeting with the town’s Budget Committee in a joint meeting on Nov. 2 at 6 p.m. in the town offices.
In other Select Board news, the board unanimously approved a $17,030 bid from Mountain Shade Septic for a installation of a new septic system for the town offices.
The board also briefly discussed the use of the town’s allocated American Rescue Plan Funds for replacing town equipment or making needed repairs to town buildings, though the board did not take any votes on any of the proposals on Wednesday.
Among the projects discussed were new carpeting for the town offices, a new brush truck for the Fire Department, and replacing the electric motors that open the Fire Department bay doors with an industrial grade model. Pruter, who is also a member of the department, said the department currently has to manually open the doors and clamp them to keep them open or closed.
“It’s not particularly safe, and it’s time consuming,” Pruter said.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.