Oklahoma County budget officials on an intra-agency workshop approved several September-supplement actions to cover employer premium increases, add small pay adjustments for elected-official salary accounts, and record one-time funding sources for audits and courthouse work.

The county approved moving supplemental dollars into employee benefits to cover a 3.6% rise in employer premiums and directed staff to add a statutory salary increase into each general-fund budget that pays an elected official. Commissioners and budget staff also placed watch-list notations that three one-time items — a federal CARES audit exposure, fifth-floor courthouse furniture and blinds, and a county audit shortfall — would be paid from one-time/reserve funds if required.

Why it matters: the actions change September supplement accounting and ensure the county’s employee-benefit fund receives the employer-premium increases now calculated by budget staff; they also put the elected-official salary adjustment into departmental budget workpapers so the budget board’s September recommendation reflects the statutory increase.

County staff said the 3.6% employer-rate increase produces a general‑fund fiscal impact of about $556,848 and special-revenue impacts estimated at $173,640. Budget staff presented the calculations and a working document that the chair had the clerk make part of the public record.

On elected-official pay, the working recommendation adopted by the group was to add $3,625 to the salary line and $712.31 to the benefits line in each general-fund budget that pays an elected official for a 12‑month, statutorily required adjustment; the commissioners’ accounts require separate treatment because three commissioners are funded from a separate account. The board voted in favor of inserting those amounts into the working document and using those figures in the county’s September supplement recommendation.

The board approved a cash-transfer motion to fund employee benefits from the September supplement to cover the calculated employer premium increase (general‑fund effect about $556,848), by voice vote. Budget staff said the county can either load those employer-premium dollars into individual departmental budgets and expense them out or move them directly into the employee-benefits supplement and reflect the department-level totals in the printed budget book; members agreed to use the latter mechanism for the current supplement while preserving department-level visibility in the budget booklet.

Separately, the board placed notations on the watch list that, if required, the county would pay a federal CARES Act audit exposure up to $500,000 from one-time funds and would similarly mark the fifth-floor courthouse furniture/blinds project (amount not to exceed $425,000) as payable from one-time funds. The board also approved increasing the county-audit budget by $82,154 as part of the September supplement.

Budget staff and elected officials spent significant time reviewing reserve balances and hypothetical compensation options for county employees (2.5%, 2.7%, 3.0% and 3.2% scenarios, including 9‑month and 12‑month costings). Members asked staff to circulate detailed spreadsheets with the retro and 9‑month/12‑month cost comparisons before a follow-up budget meeting so commissioners can decide how to recommend any COLA/merit action at the formal budget board meeting.

Board members repeatedly emphasized two constraints: (1) statutory language requires the elected-official salary adjustment be accounted for in budgets or offset elsewhere, so the county must address it now; and (2) many other items on the watch list are one-time needs that, if required, the county intends to fund from one-time/reserve funds rather than from ongoing revenue.

The meeting closed with members asking staff to prepare documented spreadsheets and memos for the formal September‑supplement recommendation to the budget board, and to revisit the county’s practice for loading employer premiums into departmental budgets for next fiscal year.

Ending: The motions described above were approved by voice vote during the workshop; staff will implement the accounting entries in the September supplement and circulate the detailed costing sheets for commissioners to review before the budget-board meeting.