Elected Butler County officials are set to receive lower pay hikes beginning next year.

Commissioner Bill McCarrier, board chairman, said at the commissioners meeting Monday that the new cost-of-living allowance for elected officials would be based on a 1 percent flat rate instead of the Pittsburgh Consumer Price Index, which amounted to 3.5 percent this year.

The change, if officially approved Thursday, would affect row officers running in this year’s election for 2014.

Those seven posts, which include sheriff and county controller, were paid under a prior COLA setting a 4 percent increase.

Sheriff Mike Slupe said he has no problem receiving a 1 percent pay hike.

“I support the commissioners’ decision to provide a 1 percent pay increase for elected officers,” Slupe said. “I know it was a hard decision for them to make, but it’s the right thing to do.”

Another seven posts, including the commissioners, were paid this year under the current COLA, which follows the CPI.

Not only does the 1 percent increase take effect for those officials in 2016, but the higher increases received until then would be taken back under the proposal.

McCarrier said those salaries would be reduced in 2016 to the point they would have been if only receiving 1 percent increases from 2014 onward. The three commissioners proposed the change.

Treasurer Diane Marburger, who is among the group to be affected in 2016, also supports the reduction.

“I appreciate their (the commissioners’) thoughtful consideration,” Marburger said. “I’m fine with it.”

The county COLA does not impact the salary of the district attorney, whose salary is set by the state even though the county pays it. County judges are state employees.