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Board reviews employee-benefits spike, retroactive 3.6% employer increase and COLA options
Summary
County staff presented an update on medical claims activity and a recommendation to apply a retroactive 3.6% employer rate increase effective July 1, 2025. Board members discussed special-revenue account impacts, department notifications, and wider COLA/salary-adjustment plans; no final across-the-board COLA was adopted at this meeting.
County finance staff presented an update on employee health claims and recommended a retroactive employer rate increase of 3.6 percent, effective July 1, 2025, which would affect the first-quarter payroll for fiscal 2025-26. Staff said medical claims rose in part because a program that began paying clients on July 1 ramped up in July and August, and several high-cost, one-time claims (about $400,000) also contributed to the increase in paid claims in the reporting period.
The board discussed mechanics for handling the retroactive expense. County staff recommended that departments with special-revenue cash accounts make monthly transfers into the fringe/benefits line to cover the employer portion, rather than separately adjusting each departmental budget, and promised to send email instructions to departments to identify required transfers. Staff also said they would review pass-through accounts (public defender, law library and similar accounts) to identify whether each has sufficient cash to cover retroactive charges.
Board members debated whether to bake an estimate of employer-premium increases into next year's budget estimates to avoid midyear adjustments. One proposal was to assume a 3.6 percent employer increase when preparing FY 2026-27 estimates so departments and contracting entities could plan ahead. Staff suggested that approach could be applied going forward to reduce the frequency of supplemental adjustments.
Separately, members discussed a broader staff compensation decision involving a proposed across-the-board salary increase (COLA/merit). Board members asked staff to compile which departments already included salary adjustments in their submitted budgets so the board could avoid double-counting. No county-wide COLA was approved at the meeting; several members expressed concern about drawing reserves down too far to fund ongoing salary increases.
The board also discussed timing: the budget board meets on Sept. 16 and 18 and staff said they need departments to confirm transfers and provide enrollment rosters so the county can accurately compute retroactive amounts before payroll deadlines. Staff committed to sending department-level guidance and to reconcile eligibility and enrollment to avoid pulling retroactive funds for employees no longer enrolled.
No legal authorities were cited in the discussion; staff said the actions are administrative budget adjustments and transfers and will be processed under existing county budget procedures.
