Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Employee Benefits topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
City to phase up employee premium contributions as ADP payroll and HRIS rollout continues; finance to return sliding-scale options
Summary
Finance and HR staff updated committees on the ADP payroll and HRIS rollout, planned learning and performance modules, and proposed a multi-year increase in employee health benefit contributions to address a projected insurance shortfall; commissioners asked staff to present a sliding-scale option tied to salary bands.
Augusta's finance and human resources teams told the Finance Committee that the city has completed the initial ADP payroll transition and plans a broader HRIS rollout in 2026 including learning management and digital performance management.
Finance Director (presented as) Mr. Schreier said the city has experienced unusually high healthcare costs in the current plan year and projects a roughly $7.5 million overrun in 2025. To address the structural imbalance, staff proposed phasing employee premium increases over four years to move the city toward a target cost-share model (staff described the historic goal as 78% employer / 22% employee). The plan also would raise the hospital deductible for applicable plan members from $300 to $500.
ADP and HRIS updates
- Payroll and ADP: City staff said the ADP app is launched, paper EFT statements have been eliminated and paper checks are targeted for elimination (employees without direct deposit will receive “Wisely” prepaid card accounts if not enrolled by an October deadline). Officials said ADP implementation included launch issues that the combined finance/IT/payroll team is still resolving.
- HRIS: HR will introduce a learning management system (LMS) and mandatory training cycle in 2026 and move performance evaluations to an electronic system.
Health plan changes and committee request
Schreier presented a four-year premium increase path and estimated the first-year increase would generate roughly $1 million in cost shift to employees while keeping the city budget stable; raising the employee share to the full 22% in a single year would have moved an estimated $3.5 million onto employees immediately, staff said. Commissioners asked for further options and requested a salary-based sliding scale for premium increases to protect lower-paid employees. Mayor Pro Tem Guilfoyle and others asked staff to return in two weeks with a modeling slide that shows the sliding-scale impact and the assumed COLA scenarios.
Why it matters: Rising employee health costs are the largest driver of the city's insurance budget and affect next year's proposed budget and any proposed COLA. The committee agreed staff should provide further modeling that ties premium share options to salary bands and quantifies the net effect given any proposed COLA.
