Salisbury budget session debates HR spending: employee assistance, wellness funds and new background checks

Human Resources Director Meg Keaton told the Salisbury City Council at its April 20, 2025 budget session that the department is seeking additions to several line items, including the employee assistance program and recruitment advertising, and asked the council to consider where employee‑wellness funds should live.

Keaton opened the discussion by describing the HR request and account coding. “My budget is fairly simple compared to some of the other departments,” she said, and identified HR account 18500 and the employee assistance line referenced in the meeting as 502,038.

The request for additional employee assistance funding reflects increased use of behavioral and mental‑health services by city staff, Keaton said. Jesse, who manages the city’s Thrive/wellness initiatives in the mayor’s office, distinguished the employee assistance program (an external, professional EAP) from internal wellness activities: “The EAP is a slightly different program…our office, the wellness programs are internal activities that we do with staff,” Jesse said. Council members and HR staff debated whether the smaller wellness accounts should be consolidated under HR for tracking and transparency, or remain in the mayor’s administrative budget because the mayor’s office currently…