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Mayor warns of rising workers— compensation costs as council begins budget season
Summary
The mayor told the Mays County Council the city is entering budget season with generally healthy accounts but rising workers' compensation costs, mixed sales/use tax results and work to clean up non-general-fund and capital accounts.
The Mays County Council received a budget update from the mayor on an April meeting, during which the mayor said the city is beginning budget season and faces higher workers— compensation costs even as most accounts appear healthy.
The mayor said staff is still gathering financial reports and that, overall, budgeted amounts compared with current-year actuals look "pretty healthy," but several line items—particularly workers' compensation—are trending higher. "We're at the tail end of a couple of really high years," the mayor said, adding that some claims involve large medication costs and that some cases are subject to privacy and other limits on disclosure.
The mayor flagged the city—s retirement participation rate (described in the meeting as about 33 percent) as a concern for long-term employee retention and costs. "If we have higher participation rates, we start to see things where employees are more vested. . . . We need to invest in our employees," the mayor said, urging outreach and education about retirement and wellness programs to reduce future workers' compensation exposure.
On revenues, the mayor reported mixed sales and use tax results. Sales tax receipts were reported as $27,001.35 higher than the prior month but were described as about $640,000 below last year—s year-end figure; use tax was reported as $31,008.53 higher than the prior month. Tobacco tax receipts were up by roughly $925 compared with the prior month. The mayor also said the city is continuing work to resolve hotel-motel tax collection and that the council has discussed a resolution to have the tax commission begin collecting those receipts to reduce local administrative burden.
The mayor said staff will begin insurance bidding soon and that some non-general-fund and capital account items still need to be reconciled before the fiscal year end. He identified specific staff coordination on insurance and retirement planning (referencing Hannah and Janine Gerson as participants) and said the city will bring in appropriate experts as needed.
No formal action was taken on the budget items during the meeting; the presentation was a staff update to inform upcoming budget deliberations.
