By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

CASCO — Locally elected officials used data from other towns to figure out what might be the most fair Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for Casco town employees.

At this point in time, the 6.5 percent pay raise for town staff was simply a discussion and no actual changes were made. 

The COLA conversation came up during the Casco Board of Selectmen meeting on Jan. 3.

“We did a lot of work getting staff up to the average [wage] level. We were drastically behind on some of our wage levels,” Chairman Robert MacDonald said.

He was referring to the study of multiple municipalities’ pay rates and benefits, which the board used to offer better packages to town employees. Items like how vacation time is accrued and how much an employee pays for health insurance were addressed last year. 

In the case of COLA, the board reviewed what neighboring towns are considering.

Mechanic Falls is proposing a 5 percent increase; Paris proposed an 8 percent adjustment; Poland is considering 6.9 percent while Standish has talked about a 6 percent pay increase.

MacDonald looked at the average COLA for those four towns, which is 6.475, and that was rounded up to 6.5 percent.

The Casco Town Manager Anthony Ward, who was not present at the Jan. 3 meeting, recommended a COLA between 6 and 7 percent in an email to the selectmen, according to MacDonald.

Scott Avery spoke on the topic.

“I am seeing in a lot of different places, there are lot of games being played by town, trying to lure employees to other towns. We’ve got a really good crew in this town and I’d hate to see us lose them to somebody else,” he said. “It is a situation that is happening. The new game in town is: ‘I’m going to pay more than everybody else so that my deck is full.’ And, everybody else is suffering and they don’t care.” 

He advocated for not only addressing the cost of living increases but also for reviewing ways that the town can enhance other key positions to retain employees. 

Casco Fire Chief Brian Cole spoke.

“I would be careful using last year’s numbers as well because a lot of those are now outdated. Municipalities have been doing mid-fiscal year increases to try to do some of that retention and improvement,” Cole told the board.

“Even though it is 6.5 on last year’s numbers. You brought everyone up to the 50th percentile — that was the goal. But that was last year,” he said.

Avery spoke.

“This isn’t carved in stone. There is potential. We’ll have to do some legwork,” he said. 

MacDonald said the reason that COLA was being discussed is for the budgetary reasons.

“We need to get some numbers for the transfer station budget, which is coming up in two weeks. They were looking to us for some numbers.”

Selectman Eugene Connolly said, “This is a good starting point.”