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County finance reports show healthy reserves; employee insurance claims spike in February
Summary
Washington County Treasurer and Comptroller reported strong fund balances and reserves, while the countys employee health plan saw a significant medical-claim increase in February driven by hospital stays and surgeries; staff described steps to address costly GLP-1 drug spending.
Treasurer Hill told the Washington County Quorum Court Finance and Budget Committee that the countys big three funds are in good position, noting the county began the reporting period with approximately $96 million in the bank and was at about $92 million at the end of the report period. Hill said tax collections due in April are expected to cause a ‘‘big jump’’ in balances.
Hill reported the county has $11,000,008.59 remaining in ARPA funds across three active projects (COVID mitigation, EOC engineering and EOC construction). He said January collections for the one-cent sales tax were about $841,000, roughly 6.5 percent higher than the same month last year and about 7.5 percent year-to-date. Hill also noted a recent Fayetteville annexation moved approximately 312 residents from county jurisdiction into the city, a change he said will slightly reduce the countys share of some tax distributions; he described his population and revenue estimates as approximate.
Comptroller Sherman said the countys working capital position is strong, reporting roughly 4.7 to 5.2 months of reserves depending on year-to-year comparisons and noting the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) recommends two months. Sherman said he wants to preserve a $15,000,000 savings balance and indicated he plans to use unappropriated reserves for some projects while maintaining that savings target.
On employee insurance, Mr. Angel (employee benefits staff) reported January was a relatively stable month but February saw medical claims increase materially: he said medical claims rose from about $283,000 in January to about $642,000 in February, driven by several larger surgeries and intensive-care stays. Drug costs had trended down, Angel said, but spending on GLP-1 medications (a class of weight-loss/diabetes drugs) remains a concern because the county is paying high prices for those medications for multiple employees. Angel said staff will meet with the chief of staff, the comptroller and HR to explore purchasing options to reduce GLP-1 procurement costs and to expand programs to reduce long-term dependence on those medications for some employees.
Committee members asked questions but took no formal action on these reports; Treasurer Hill and Comptroller Sherman and staff answered clarification questions about reserves, encumbrances and reporting.
