Committee backs start of county employee assistance program, funded by ARPA through 2025
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Summary
The executive and finance committee voted to forward to the county board a proposal to begin an employee assistance program (EAP) serving full-time and ambulance personnel; the county would cover costs through ARPA funds for 2025 and add it to the 2026 budget.
Richland County's executive and finance committee on July 8 approved forwarding a proposal to start an employee assistance program (EAP) to the full county board. The program would be offered to full-time employees and ambulance staff; the administrator said part-time on-call ambulance personnel would also be eligible.
The proposed vendor would provide up to eight counseling sessions per incident per employee. The administrator said the offered price is $2.58 per covered person per month; the county expects to cover roughly 285 employees under the initial plan. The administration proposed funding the EAP with American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars through the end of 2025 and incorporating the ongoing cost into the 2026 budget.
Committee members asked about expected utilization rates and annual costs. The administrator said the annual cost at the quoted rate would be approximately $12,000 (about $1,000 per month) and that the vendor operates statewide; utilization data for this vendor was not provided in the meeting packet.
Supervisor Cooley moved to forward the EAP start-up to the full county board using ARPA funds for the remainder of 2025; the motion passed by voice vote.
The committee directed administration to include the EAP in 2026 budget planning and to provide contract details to the county board.