Deb Makowski, county human resources director, said several times during last week’s Audit and Control Committee meeting that increasing salary ranges for management employees doesn’t automatically give the affected employees salary increases.

She’s technically right, of course.

Salaries for 2026 were set in the 2026 Chautauqua County budget. But there would be no need to change the salary ranges in the first place if there weren’t raises coming soon for those employees. Makowski told county legislators there are 128 employees who are getting close to the maximum salary in their particular salary range. As of Jan. 1, 2026, 34 of those employees had less than 10% until they reached their maximum salary in their range, with 11 having less than 3% before hitting their salary ceiling.

Raising salary ranges won’t increase salaries … yet. But raises will be coming. The raises will be part of the next budget that doesn’t hold salaries flat compared to 2026. They will increase as the raise requests are included in the 2027 budget.

Tom Nelson, D-Jamestown, made a good point during last week’s Audit and Control Committee meeting. County Democrats are having a tough time marshaling support for a motion amending the income limits for senior citizens to qualify for a property tax rebate. Nelson and legislative Democrats want to make more senior citizen homeowners eligible for the partial real property tax exemption by raising the income eligibility from $30,000 to $38,000 – though that proposal has gone nowhere during legislative committee meetings.

Makowski’s response was an interesting one that taxpayers – particularly senior citizens – should keep in mind when tax time rolls around again.

“The only response I could give is that this proposal does not impact our budget,” Makowski said. “There’s not one employee who will see an increase once this is passed. Now what department heads do, again, they would need to work within their approved budget for 2026.”

That’s where we disagree with Makowski. Both proposals impact the budget, they just do so in different ways. Decreasing taxes paid by senior citizens decreases county revenues in the 2027 budget.

The proposal to change salary ranges doesn’t impact the county budget … yet. But taxpayers will be footing a higher bill for employee salaries in 2027 and beyond. Higher salary ranges will end up increasing salaries just as higher step increases in union contracts increase the cost of county employee salaries every year. There will be a cost, just not in 2026.

County lawmakers are making a deliberate choice tonight if they vote to change salary ranges while acting on a $2,000 increase to the partial senior citizen property tax break. They’re saying keeping county employees happy is more important than helping senior citizens who could benefit from a tax break that could help them remain in their home.