Humboldt County Supervisors Approve 2025-26 Pay Plan for Department Heads

The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors is scheduled Tuesday to adopt a resolution approving the 2025-26 Compensation Plan for Elected and Appointed Department Heads, covering the county's top tier of leadership under Units 10 and 11 for a term running January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2026.

The plan, appearing as agenda item 2 at the March 17 board meeting, addresses insurance coverage, longevity incentive pay, vacation conversion, and financial impacts for department heads across county government. Supporting documents posted to the county agenda include a staff report, the final compensation plan, a red-line version showing changes from the prior agreement, and the resolution text itself.

The vote would be the second major compensation action the board takes for its management-level workforce within a three-month span. On December 16, 2025, supervisors approved a parallel plan for Designated Management and Confidential Employees under Units 8 and 9, also running through December 31, 2026. That plan, drawn from county Legistar file 25-1418, included salary increases for Attorney classifications effective December 7, 2025, along with two one-time, non-pensionable lump sum payments: $2,000 per regular employee, payable during the first full payroll period after board adoption, and a second payment of $1,000 during the first pay period of July 2026.

The county framed the Units 8 and 9 action under its Strategic Plan category 3001, which targets support for a well-trained workforce under the board's Workforce and Operational Excellence focus area.

Whether the elected and appointed department heads covered by Tuesday's vote will receive comparable one-time payments or salary adjustments is not detailed in publicly available agenda summaries. The staff report and final plan documents, once fully published with Tuesday's meeting record, will contain the precise financial terms for Units 10 and 11.

The board requires a majority vote to adopt the resolution. A certified copy of the proceedings is expected to be posted to the county agenda following Tuesday's action.