The Butler County commissioners took a positive step Wednesday when they approved a new Consumer Price Index-based plan for annual cost-of-living raises.

The plan, effective in 2012, will cover the county's three commissioners as well as the controller, treasurer, clerk of courts, prothonotary, register of wills, recorder of deeds, sheriff, coroner and jury commissioners.

Raises in 2012 and beyond will be based on the CPI for Pittsburgh, which for Fiscal Year 2009-10 was 1.9 percent. Under the current COLA arrangement, which was enacted in 1984, the officials in question have been eligible for annual raises ranging from 4 percent to 8 percent.

In recent years, raises have been 4 percent, except for Commissioner James Kennedy, who has opted for lower increases more in line with what the county's union workers have been receiving.

But while the new plan is an improvement, there are several flaws to consider.

First, should these elected officials be entitled to annual cost-of-living adjustments? No. They knew what the salaries for their offices were when they ran for office. If they didn't like the salary, they shouldn't have run.

Their salaries should remain unchanged during their term of office. Salaries should be adjusted — or be kept the same — for new terms of office in the year before they begin, possibly upon the recommendation of an independent panel that would consider the current state of the economy and the health of county finances.

Presumably, an independent panel would not be inclined to approve a 10 percent, 12 percent or 20 percent raise for the offices just because those offices' salaries didn't change for four years.

Second, as county solicitor Julie Graham pointed out, "there is no floor or ceiling" to the newly adopted plan.

Theoretically, if the Pittsburgh CPI were to take a big jump and the county budget were in trouble, the commissioners and row officials still would be entitled to big annual pay increases — thus increasing the taxpayers' burden.

The new plan should have included a maximum raise percentage, to take into account the hardships some property owners would face, even in better economic times. Some families, while owning properties, nonetheless face long-term, challenging financial burdens, such as higher education costs for their children and big medical bills.

So, while the newly approved plan is an improvement and might even be a better approach for school boards to use in contract negotiations with their teachers, it is not without flaws. And, despite Commissioner Jim Lokhaiser's comment that the support for the CPI-based COLA by the row officers "reflects a lot of professionalism on their part," the bottom line is that the new COLA plan is just another example of politicians taking care of themselves — and making taxpayers the losers.

All three commissioners said the CPI-based plan was the right way to address the issue. But, in the process, they turned their backs on people such as Social Security recipients — and others on fixed incomes — who are not getting a COLA this year.

That's what the term "fixed income" is all about.

What percentage of private sector workers get a guaranteed cost-of-living increase?

The commissioners and other county row officers were elected to be public servants, but, by this new plan, continue to cling to the premise of being entitled to more and more — with the taxpayers being a secondary concern.