At the July 31, 2025, meeting of the Legislative Roles and Governmental Operations Committee, Jessica, the county's self-insurance director (last name not provided in the transcript), told members the 2026 workers' compensation board assessments will drop after officials applied reserve funds. "I was able to get a significant reduction by using some of our reserve funds that we had," Jessica said.

The presentation said the total plan shows a 20% reduction and the countywide assessment shows an 18% reduction. Jessica said the total moved "from the 1.48 to the 1.17" (units not specified in the transcript) and that roughly "$300,000-ish" of fund balance was used to reach the lower assessment. She also said the fund remains "fully funded" and that there is about "350-ish thousand" above the fully funded reserve.

Why it matters: lowering the assessment reduces the immediate budget pressure on county departments that pay into the self-insurance plan. Jessica cautioned that the reduction may not be permanent: "I can't guarantee that next year, this number might go up slightly," she said, explaining the office budgets conservatively and places surplus funds into reserves.

Committee members asked for details about public information and safety training tied to the program. Jessica said the county uses Needham Risk Management for safety programs, that her office sends emails and schedules classes based on department interest, and that they solicit training suggestions at the start of each year. She offered to email committee members supporting documents, including "loss runs," which she described as the amounts paid on claims and a component used to calculate assessments based on eight years of claims experience and payroll.

Jessica also said the sheriff's office provides service-area data that feeds into the reporting. The committee did not take formal action on the assessments during the meeting; the agenda listed "no action items" and the assessment was presented as a discussion item only. Jessica's offer to provide additional documents stands as the primary follow-up direction from the meeting.