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Laguna Beach Unified audit finds multi‑year health‑benefit calculation errors; board weighs options to cover roughly $1.0M–$1.4M
Summary
An independent audit and district review found calculation errors that created multi‑year 'excess contributions' to employee health plans. Staff outlined four options — from absorbing costs to renegotiating contracts — and recommended process fixes; the board took no vote and heard public pleas not to claw back staff pay.
The Laguna Beach Unified School District heard detailed findings Nov. 13 showing multi‑year errors in how employee health‑benefit contributions were calculated, leaving the district exposed to what staff described as between roughly $1.04 million and $1.39 million in cumulative excess contributions depending on accounting choices.
The information presentation, delivered by district finance staff member Manoj Rajaduri, said an audit by Michael Bishop & Associates and subsequent district review identified a mismatch between market premiums and the employer caps spelled out in collective‑bargaining agreements. "The rate that the employee should have paid did not match the rates that were published," Rajaduri said, describing a three‑year period in which the district carried a larger share of premiums than contract formulas required.
Rajaduri said the district’s current calculation approach produced a projected deficit for 2025–26 and that when the district’s unappropriated 2021–22 allocation of $350,000…
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