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Wlaf1450By Charlotte Underwood
LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF)- The LaFollette Utility Board met Monday evening, passing a $75 million dollar budget, including a 3-percent cost of living adjustment (COLA) for employees.
The utility board just recently underwent an overhaul, with three new board members being sworn in on Monday before approving the budget, including Mike Malicote, Mike Milton and Brian Younce.
A large number of employees attended Monday’s meeting, nearly packing the conference room.
TOP PHOTO: Multiple LaFollette Utility employees attended Monday’s meeting to see what Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) would be passed by the board with the 2027 budget. A 4-percent COLA had been on approved by the previous board, however that was rescinded at Monday’s meeting, and a 3-percent COLA was approved instead, with the option/possibility to add the one percent back in at a later date.
First, the board voted to rescind the previous 4-percent COLA because “it had been presented without the correct numbers” according to LUB board chairman Laura Byrge. Byrge was elected chairman for the board at the start of the meeting.
She thanked the employees for attending the meeting.
“Thank you to everyone who has taken time out of their day to be here. It is good to have everyone here to hear what is going on and be in the know, based on everything that has happened, it is a lot, I know it is a lot, and we are trying to do the best we can do to move us forward in this situation,” Byrge said.
Board members were presented with an hour-long briefing on the budget during the workshop on Monday evening, before voting on it during the meeting.
Finance and Administrations Specialist Crystal Young presented the budget plan to the utility board during the workshop and explained that the 4- percent COLA that was initially proposed and approved would cost $363,000 and that it was in the budget that was prepared and would not require a rate increase. She explained that the difference in a 3-percent COLA and a 4-percent COLA equaled $90,000 out of a total budget that equals $75 million. She also compared it with what the city is doing for its employees, which is a 2-percent COLA and a one-time $1,500 bonus.
“If we did the same thing, it would equal out almost dollar for dollar to that same $363,000,” Young said.
When it came time to vote on the budget during the meeting, the board first had to rescind the original 4-percent COLA that had been approved by the previous board and vote on a new COLA.
“You were presented with the numbers, the most in depth numbers that have been reviewed since I have been on the board and I appreciate the work and effort that was put into that … As presented the numbers do support the 4-percent that was placed on the table, but it would be the pleasure of the board, we need to approve a COLA amount as we approve the budget,” Byrge said.
Mike Milton made the motion for a 4-percent COLA. Younce clarified that the budget had been calculated to support that amount and was told by Byrge that it had been.
“The only hesitation I had was simply because the city had been throwing a fit about the 4-percent, but I think that was driven primarily by poor communication, I think had they known all this was already computed, I don’t know if it would have been a problem,” Younce said.
“The cart was before the horse,” Byrge said.
She also said she wanted the board to take into consideration that the board was paying two general managers.
“What I would like to see moving forward is audits done across the board to make sure we are starting on a firm foundation with a new GM; we want to know what we are handling to the new GM and there will be excess costs with that. I say that just to throw that out there. The numbers do support that 4-percent, but are we ready to move in that direction, it’s at the pleasure of the board, but just keep those costs in mind,” Byrge said.
She asked for a second to Milton’s motion on the 4-percent COLA. Younce seconded it. When it was put to a vote, Jerry Brown abstained, as did Mike Malicote. Byrge voted no. At first Younce abstained, then changed his vote to a yes vote, however, it still died due to the no vote and the two abstentions, which “essentially equal a no vote”, according to the LUB attorney.
Byrge said she voted no because of the expenditures with the new GM and other unknown expenditures.
Younce said he would like to understand more about the expenses that will be incurring.
“I looked up what the federal government COLA was, and it averaged 4 percent. Is there any number that you would support? Not that I don’t think the employees are worth it. We are paying the old manager through March. Can we do a 2-percent COLA could we retroactively go back and amend it to 4-percent, like a catch-up COLA?” Younce asked
The attorney said yes, you could amend the budget and do that.
Byrge said as far as deserving the money, she felt the employees deserved 5-percent, but that the utility did not yet know what the cost was going to be with hiring a new GM and with other costs.
“We are after getting LUB moving in a forward direction and we do have the ability to go back and amend that number,” Byrge said.
“We are in a bad place; we stepped into this not understanding all the budget items. Part of the problem is I don’t know what I don’t know. Part of the problem is they deserve this, but I don’t want to get us in a bind,” Younce said. He asked Young what the cost difference was between 3-percent and 4- percent COLA.
“It’s a fraction of a percent of a $75 million dollar budget…it’s $90,000 across three systems,” Young said. The total cost of a 4-percent COLA is $363,844.80; the total cost of a 3-percent COLA is $272,883.60.
LaFollette Utilities has 95 employees.
“When you look at it at $90,000 out of $75 million, it’s more palatable,” Younce said.
Since the motion for a 4-percent COLA had failed, Younce made motion to approve the budget at 3-percent COLA with the possibility to amend it later to add that 1-percent back. This was approved unanimously. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-06/30/2026-6AM)