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County approves March budget supplement to fund salary adjustments, court attorney fee increases and ARPA-funded health-center pay
Summary
Douglas County adopted a March budget supplement that moves additional funds into a countywide salary-adjustment account, covers higher court-appointed attorney fees and records ARPA-funded pay for the health center; one commissioner voted no on the package.
Douglas County Commissioners on March 25 approved a March budget supplement that increases the county salary-adjustment fund, adds funds for court-appointed attorney fees and records several grant-funded budget increases, including ARPA payroll support for the Douglas County Health Center.
Laurie Persch, Douglas County finance director, told the board the county set a placeholder estimate of 3% for salary increases when the fiscal-year budget was adopted but the board later approved a higher salary adjustment for the calendar year; the March supplement increases the salary-adjustment fund to cover about $3.3 million in total salary changes. "In total, that was $3,297,439," Persch said, noting the budget previously set aside $2,500,000 for salary adjustments and additional funds were needed to cover the full amount.
Persch said the supplement also accommodates higher rates for court-appointed attorneys — a $550,000 addition for district court and $158,000 for county court — and that fringe-benefit costs were increased to reflect higher payroll-related expenses. Non-general-fund adjustments include increased client aid, higher employee medical-insurance fund costs and a Register of Deeds modernization project for software updates.
Persch said a set of funded adjustments — grants received after the budget adoption — total roughly $1.195 million and are reimbursable federal and state grant awards that must be placed in the budget before spending. One funded payment came from State ARPA dollars restricted for employee-pay increases at the Douglas County Health Center (about $363,516), she said.
Commissioners asked for an itemized breakout of the grant-funded $1.195 million; Deputy County Administrator Kim Havocati said she would provide details and work with the clerk’s office to show how the dollars break down by grant.
The board voted to approve the budget supplement (motion by Commissioner Rogers, second by Commissioner Friend). The motion passed with a 6–1 tally: Commissioner Paul Borgeson voted no; other commissioners voted yes.
Why it matters: The supplement formalizes pay adjustments and obligates reimbursable grant funds for county programs. County staff said much of the increase reflects board-directed salary decisions and mandatory cost changes (attorney-fee increases and fringe costs), while the funded grants require budget placement to allow reimbursement-based spending.
