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Supervisors instruct staff to build budget at Truth-in-Taxation rate; adopt health-insurance and per diem guidance
Summary
The board asked staff to prepare next year's budget based on the Truth-in-Taxation (TNT) rate, accepted a 4.5% increase for pooled health insurance (split with employees), and instructed staff to align mileage and per-diem with state rates; capital priorities include ambulances and a charitable reserve to consider requests.
Greenlee County supervisors provided initial budget direction: staff will prepare a draft budget based on the Truth-in-Taxation (TNT) rate and incorporate a 4.5% health-insurance premium increase (the county's six-county health pool recommended a 4.5% increase), with the county and employees each covering 4.5% of the rise under the county's current cost-sharing approach.
County Manager Derek (surname not specified in transcript) briefed the board on revenue; shared sales tax receipts were $647,000 above projection for the budget year to date, and county staff said Secure Rural Schools funding is expected for the current year but could drop in the next state/federal budget. Derek said staff would build conservatively and begin with the TNT rate unless the board directs otherwise.
Nut graf: The board set preliminary guidance to keep the tax-rate base at the TNT level while protecting critical services and asked staff to assume current employer/employee shares for a 4.5% health-insurance cost increase; members also asked staff to align the county's per-diem and mileage reimbursement with new state rates.
Finance staff reported the health-pool's recommendation and the actuarial review; supervisors said the county should keep its long-standing split between employer and employee for insurance costs. The board accepted staff's recommendation to adopt the health rate increase into budget planning and to present options if the split changes.
The board also discussed capital projects and asked staff to keep ambulance replacement in mind; staff said an ambulance unit vendor would make a demonstration available the next day. Supervisors instructed staff to consider a modest charitable-reserve line in the budget for community requests and to continue the tiered capital-project planning (tier 1: projects intended for the coming fiscal year; tier 2: 3'5 years; tier 3: aspirational projects).
Ending: Staff will present a budget built on the TNT rate, incorporating the health-insurance guidance and the higher state per-diem/mileage rates; the board will review tiered capital priorities and possible charitable-reserve amounts in subsequent budget sessions.
