Davis County budget committee reviews HR and risk-management budget; staff to convert poll workers to W-2

At a Davis County Budget Committee meeting, county HR and risk staff reviewed the departments' operating budget and flagged several implementation steps for the coming year, including converting poll workers from 1099 contractors to W-2 employees and securing additional cyber insurance coverage.

The discussion matters because the items affect county payroll reporting, employee benefits costs and liabilities, and insurance exposure that could change how incidents such as jail-related judgments are absorbed by county finances.

County HR and risk staff outlined operational work completed this year, said plans for benefit changes and insurance purchases, and described budget items that could increase or decrease the county's near-term costs. Presenter (HR staff member) told the committee the department finished a project to convert employee files to electronic records and provided internal support to the sheriff's office through an administrative review and promotional-process facilitation. "We can finish the project, convert employee files to electronic formats," Presenter said, adding the county reduced physical file-room space by moving to a modern filing system.

The presenter identified several benefits and insurance items the county has already implemented or will implement: completed first-responder surviving-spouse coverage enhancements at no additional county cost; voluntary-benefit agreements with Voya pending; continued one-on-one retirement counseling with a URS representative; and plans to monitor a state-level tax change the presenter called the "Big Beautiful Bill Act" for effects on overtime tax reporting.

On poll workers, Presenter said the county intends to change tax status for the temporary workers: "We're gonna reposition to move the poll workers into W-2 receiving employees and sunset the 1099 methodology for those coworkers," Presenter said, and noted the county hopes to complete that change "before elections get underway." The presenter said county attorneys and payroll staff are working on a phased plan to implement the change.

Risk and insurance items drew extended discussion. Presenter said the county worked with Lumpus Insurance to secure a cyber wrap-around and is coordinating with Olympus for additional resources. The presenter also described ongoing discussions after a jail-related court judgment and said the county is exploring how to design future coverage to protect residents and county assets. "Everybody knows we paid a jail death judgment. Yousef covered half and the county had to cover the other half," Presenter said, and later compared the county's judgment to a larger judgment reported in another county.

Staff reported a likely workers'comp experience-modification (EMOD) decrease from 0.72 to 0.67, which would reduce the county's workers'comp premium if confirmed. On property and casualty premiums, the presenter said USIP-related premiums rose in 2025 projections (from 1.58 to 1.78 in the line-item shown to the committee) and that cyber and other liability costs have generally risen.

On health coverage, staff advised the committee to expect a 10.9% increase in PHP premiums for the coming year and noted an unusually high medical-loss ratio in recent years. "We've had medical loss ratio as high as a 143%," Presenter said, meaning claims costs exceeded premiums by that metric in a recent period. The presenter also said the county expects a PHP dividend and budgeted a projected return from PHP.

Committee members asked about account classifications and where certain costs are recorded. One committee member questioned why the employee navigator (enrollment support) costs were budgeted under professional/technical services rather than a software subscription line; staff said the account historically has been used for several enrollment-related costs, including drug and background screens. The presenter noted the county pays the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) from an HR account available to all county employees and suggested the committee could consider allocating that cost differently across departments in future budgets.

Staff praised the county's benefits broker, GBS, for negotiation work and said the county may put that contract up for a request for proposals in the next two to three years. A committee member asked whether the broker receives commissions or dividends from insurance providers; staff said the county pays a broker fee and that the broker does not collect a separate commission on that fee.

The presentation concluded with committee members thanking HR and risk staff. "We have an excellent, excellent team of HR professionals," Presenter said, acknowledging the group's work on benefits, training and insurance matters.

No formal committee vote or ordinance resulted from the presentation; the meeting recorded staff directions and implementation plans rather than a committee decision that required a vote.