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Bonner County HR moves to electronically track unemployment claims after nearly $100,000 in reimbursements
Summary
Bonner County HR will register with the Department of Labor’s SIDES portal to get faster notices and build records after roughly $99,047 in reimbursements from 2022–2025; officials emphasized the figure is total paid benefits and further review is needed to estimate what portion—if any—was avoidable.
Director Holmgren, Bonner County human resources director, told commissioners the county is a ‘direct reimburser’ to the state unemployment insurance fund and has paid just under $100,000 in reimbursements over the past three years.
“Bonner county is a public employer, so we're a direct reimburser back to the state unemployment insurance fund,” Holmgren said, noting the county does not pay unemployment through payroll taxes like the private sector.
Holmgren said the comptroller ran a report showing an overall 15.76% increase in the total amount paid from 2022 to 2025 and gave year-by-year figures: $25,500 in 2022, $28,934 in 2023, $7,052 in 2024 and $29,561 in fiscal year 2025. She said the county currently has no consistent internal records to show which claims were properly paid and which may have been preventable.
To address that gap, Holmgren said the county has begun registering with the Department of Labor’s SIDES online portal, a nationwide employer portal that sends electronic notices and allows employers to respond more quickly to state requests for information. Holmgren said she will attend a Department of Labor webinar on SIDES and unemployment-claims procedure and seek educational materials to train supervisors and managers.
Commissioners pressed for precision about the $100,000 figure. One commissioner cautioned, “I don't want to say there's $100,000 of leakage when we don't know that that's leakage,” and Holmgren agreed: the number is the total paid reimbursements and the county must build a record to determine how much, if any, represented avoidable payments.
Holmgren recommended first steps: finish SIDES registration, gather historical correspondence as it is scanned and uploaded, and then collaborate with auditing, the clerk, and budget staff to estimate annual impact and decide whether to budget for reimbursements or to pursue more aggressive claim responses.
Next steps: Holmgren will attend the Department of Labor webinar, request materials for supervisor training, and provide updates as HR completes SIDES registration and begins systematic record building.
