County finance director says human services reporting perfect; corrections and self‑insurance reserves need attention

County finance presenter Monty briefed commissioners on the monthly budget‑versus‑actual report through December and flagged several items for board attention.

Monty said most departments historically spend about 97–98% of their budgets and that the county overall spent roughly 98.3% of its budget. "Most departments end the year under budget, which is pretty typical," he said, but he cautioned that Corrections exceeded its budget in 2024, spending 104.9% of its appropriation largely because juvenile boarding costs were higher than anticipated.

Monty also walked the board through restricted revenue funds: the county holds roughly $3.4 million in a solid‑waste restricted fund and about $900,000 in 911/PSAP resources, funds that are earmarked and not available for general purposes. He noted a decline in the county’s MCIT dividend (from historical averages around $200k–$300k to about $47,000 this year), which reduced general government revenues.

On employee insurance finances, Monty said the county adopted a self‑insurance trust fund and tracks reserves; current reserves sit near $1,000,000 while a target reserve threshold is around $2.1 million. "We need to continue building those reserves to get to that 6 months of coverage," he said.

Commissioners asked staff to continue the monthly report as a regular agenda item and to return with mid‑year reviews; one commissioner suggested repeating the report in June to track progress.

Next steps: staff will provide periodic updates; the board asked that Corrections’ juvenile boarding bed availability be monitored and that staff continue to report on insurance fund reserve building.