FARMINGTON — The Franklin County budget committee voted Wednesday to set dates for an initial vote and public hearing on an $11 million proposal for county government and the jail.

The initial vote is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at a place to be determined. The Superior Court room at the courthouse at 140 Main St. may be in use and the Emergency Operations Center at 120 County Way might not be available for a public gathering yet.

Administrator Amy Bernard said Thursday that she would check with county Budget Advisory Committee Chairperson Tiffany Maiuri about where to hold it.

The Emergency Operations Center will be ready May 21 for a public hearing at 4:30 p.m., Bernard said.

During Wednesday’s budget meeting, the 11-member committee discussed whether this was the right year to give a 3% cost-of-living increase to nonunion workers, plus step increases.

Bernard had recommended a 4% cost-of-living increase in March to keep the county’s nonunion employees up with other counties and workplaces with similar positions.

Commissioners voted to include a 3% cost-of-living increase to nonunion and elected officials in the proposed 2025-26 budget. It does not include commissioners.

The increases for nonunion workers include a rebalancing among grade levels, based on the market average for similar job positions in other counties and workplaces, and would cost $138,044.

The 3% increases for elected officials amount to $28,891. The difference between a 2.4% and a 3% increase for nonunion employees is $10,267, and for elected officials it is a difference of $352, according to Deputy Administrator/Human Resource Director Tiffany Baker.

Committee members are trying to determine if a 2.5% increase would work instead of 3%. For years, the committee has budgeted higher cost-of-living increases than commissioners. However, commissioners have the sole authority by law to set personnel wages and have given lower raises. Taxpayers are annually assessed on the amount the Budget Advisory Committee set, even if it is not spent.

Maiuri said she sent out Freedom of Access Act requests to all 16 counties to see how employees are compensated. Each county seems to do it differently, she said. Most counties’ personnel responded right away with the data for free or emailed they are working on it, she said. Oxford County referred the request to its attorney. The attorney didn’t seem to think that all the information she was requesting was public information, which under the law it is, and it would cost about $75 and take up to eight weeks to generate, she said.

In another discussion by the committee Wednesday, it came up that the county’s administrative office was overstaffed. A couple of employees in the Commissioners’ Office are shared by two to three departments and the costs are divided among those department budgets, Bernard said. One of them is part-time.

Another concern was whether the county needs an outside accountant because it has an elected treasurer, who works part-time, and a full-time bookkeeper on staff. The accountant is paid an hourly rate when needed.

The budget also includes money to operate the new Emergency Operations Center where the Commissioners Office, Emergency Management Agency, Technology Department and the Sheriff”s Office are, or will be, located. Three of those departments are moving out of the courthouse.

Bernard pointed out that bringing the District’s Attorney Office back to the courthouse is saving $36,000 in rent to offset the center’s operating expenses. The office had been in leased space.