Beaufort County staff outline benefits, recommend 3% COLA and begin pay-scale review

Beaufort County officials presented an overview of employee benefits and a proposal to include a 3% cost-of-living adjustment in next year’s budget, saying the county’s health plan remains a recruitment and retention advantage.

The Human Resources presentation, led by Catherine Mead, HR director for Beaufort County, opened with enrollment and cost data for the county’s self-insured medical plan and a summary of recent cost-control steps. "The average cost for a Beaufort basic employee only is $130 a month," Mead said, and staff noted total enrollment on the county’s medical and prescription plan was 2,164 people including employees and dependents.

Mead and administration staff told the council the county moved from a fully insured to a self-insured plan in the 2016 plan year and that change has produced substantial savings. "Total savings over the last 9 years has been roughly $19,500,000," Mead said, while noting several one-time factors — including a small number of high claimants and 27 ineligible dependents found in a dependent audit — affected last year’s costs. Staff also described two $50-per-month surcharges now in place: one for employees who add an eligible spouse who has other employer coverage and one for tobacco use.

Why this matters: The county’s benefits package figures into recruiting and retention and is one of the largest recurring budget items. Council members said they want staff to preserve competitiveness while keeping payroll costs predictable.

Key recommendations and follow-up: - Administration recommended a 3% COLA for FY26 to address pay compression while also proposing a 1.5% increase to pay bands to let employees progress within ranges after the COLA. Finance staff estimated a 3% increase on the current salary roster (using a January 13 snapshot) would cost about $1.9 million across all funds; including vacancy and other factors, staff estimated the fiscal impact to be roughly $1.9 million to $2.0 million. Hank Amundsen and finance staff will provide final numbers during budget hearings. - Staff asked for direction on whether the council prefers to keep an open-range pay structure, return to a step-based system, or adopt a hybrid (steps for some job families and open ranges for others). Officials said a hybrid could balance predictability and flexibility. - HR said it will bring a series of policy updates to council: formal pay policy (class-and-comp maintenance), a uniform on-call pay policy, reinstatement of periodic background checks (HR recommended biannual checks), a clarified remote-work policy, emergency attendance and pay, and clarifications to conflict-of-interest rules. - Staff suggested a separate workshop to analyze retiree health "gap" coverage options; no policy change was proposed at the retreat.

What staff said about benefits design: The county offers two medical plan tiers (base and premium), dental folded into medical coverage, vision, flex spending accounts, short- and long-term disability, basic life and voluntary supplemental plans, and an employee assistance program available to all employees. A broker benchmark done for the county found Beaufort County’s base (low-option) plan had an actuarial value of roughly 87% and the premium plan about 89%, placing the county’s plans near the higher end of peers in the sample.

Council response and next steps: Council members asked for more detail on how different pay models would affect long-term budgeting and compression, and requested a return presentation showing (1) a comparative scenario of open-range vs. step vs. hybrid designs, (2) the precise FY26 COLA cost using the latest roster, and (3) a defined scope and timeline for a retiree benefits workshop. Staff agreed to return with those figures during the budget process.

Ending: County HR framed the work as incremental: staff will carry forward the council’s direction, provide final COLA costings for the FY26 budget and bring a narrower set of options on pay structure and retiree health for council decision in upcoming workshops and budget hearings.