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Carmel HR centralizes tuition reimbursement, adds mental‑health EAP and flags retiree health unfunded liability
Summary
Nicole Murphy, Carmel's HR director, presented the HR 2026 budget, describing a new employee assistance program (Lyra), digitized onboarding through ADP, a plan to centralize tuition reimbursement within HR and a long‑standing unfunded retiree health insurance liability estimated at about $30 million actuarially.
Nicole Murphy, Carmel’s director of human resources, presented the HR department’s proposed 2026 budget and highlighted several administrative and benefits changes the city has already implemented or plans to implement.
Murphy said onboarding has been digitized through the city’s ADP Human Resources Information System, which she said improved the new‑hire experience by enabling pre‑start paperwork and orientation materials. She said the change reduced paperwork and allowed staff to focus on the relational aspects of onboarding.
On employee wellness, Murphy introduced Lyra as the city’s new employee assistance program (EAP) provider, calling it a more robust solution than the city’s prior EAP. She said Lyra went live Sept. 1 and provides up to 10 covered mental‑health visits and a pathway to continued care through the city’s medical benefits if needed. Murphy said the program includes a strong public‑safety component geared toward police and fire employees.
On tuition reimbursement, Murphy told councilors the city is centralizing the program in HR; she said the budget includes an annual cap and that reimbursement requests will continue to be approved course‑by‑course with directors as the first approver. CFO Zach explained that prior practice had departments budgeted individually and that moving the money to HR allows the city to budget more accurately at the enterprise level.
Murphy and CFO Zach also discussed retiree health insurance: staff said the city does not prefund the actuarial liability for retiree health beneficiaries who became eligible under older rules. The departments reported an unfunded actuarial liability in the order of $30 million and said that re‑instating retiree health for future hires without pre‑funding would markedly increase the unfunded liability; they recommended a strategic, multi‑year plan be developed if council wishes to consider policy changes.
Murphy said the HR budget funds six full‑time positions plus a part‑time on‑call role and that HR now houses several citywide functions including retiree health, workers’ compensation appropriations and the planned central tuition reimbursement appropriation. She said HR also has modest increases for training, software maintenance (ADP) and worker’s compensation appropriations to reflect actual expenses.
Councilors asked for historical tuition‑reimbursement data and actuarial detail on retiree health liabilities; Murphy and Zach said they would provide records and options for council review.
