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Lane County HR outlines staffing reductions, wellness and childcare priorities for 2025-26 budget
Summary
Chief Human Resources Officer Alana Holmes told the budget committee the HR department will absorb reductions focused on materials and services and some position adjustments while trying to protect core HR staffing and maintain benefits and employee supports.
Alana Holmes, Lane County's chief human resources officer, presented the department's proposed FY 2025-26 budget to the budget committee on May 14, describing a plan that reduces discretionary spending and adjusts several positions while prioritizing retention and employee supports.
Holmes said HR began its budget planning in October and provided 5% and 10% reduction scenarios before recommending a package that minimizes direct impacts to HR staff. "Our guiding kind of foundational piece as we went through this process was to minimize impacts in our HR staff to retain our talent," she told the committee.
Key changes Holmes presented include a 24% reduction in discretionary general fund spending for HR and the movement of a 0.5 FTE front-desk position from HR to County Administration, creating an internal transfer of $58,721. The department also proactively converted a senior classification and compensation analyst from 1.0 FTE to 0.8 FTE earlier in the year and plans to eliminate one full-time FTE (the HR leave supervisor) effective at the end of the calendar year when the incumbent retires.
Workforce Wellness Manager James Trujillo told the committee the HR benefits portfolio covers roughly 4,500 lives and nearly $120 million in plan liabilities. He said the department has pursued clinic-based services, plan design changes and wellness programs over the past decade to control costs and is preparing additional benefit and wellness changes, including competitive bids for high-cost programs and attention to child care as a major workforce issue. "Healthy populations do not have as many claim costs," Trujillo said.
Talent Manager Ryan McBride said the talent management division will not reduce FTE but will see material and services cuts that limit recruitment outreach and training opportunities. Labor relations staff warned that a voluntary 0.2 FTE reduction in classification and compensation will slow some responses and delay project work.
Holmes said the department will rely on its third-party leave administrator, The Standard, and new service-level agreements with that vendor to manage complex leave cases and maintain service standards during the staffing transition. She also identified work the department plans to continue: digitizing personnel files, refining HR dashboards and reviewing performance management and administrative procedures.
Why it matters: HR supports countywide hiring, benefits and labor relations work. Holmes warned that eliminating the senior leave supervisor will increase response times for complex leave issues and could shift compliance tasks to remaining staff and managers; the department plans monitoring and adjustments to mitigate impacts.
Ending note: Committee members praised HR's work and emphasized childcare and employee wellness as recurring priorities; Holmes said the department will continue to seek efficiencies while preserving core HR services.
