BENTON COUNTY — The Benton County Board of Supervisors spent the bulk of its organizational meeting on budget planning and insurance costs after County Auditor Hailey Bridal presented renewal numbers and process options for the coming year.

Bridal told the board the county’s insurance pricing for 2025 would increase and gave supervisors concrete figures: “For our Benton County, so for a single plan, the cost would be $754 a month. Family rate, $1694.” She said those are the full plan costs and that the county and employees share portions of the premium depending on policy settings and wellness incentives.

The auditor stressed the county’s timeline: health renewals, wellness participation reporting and premium projections must be finalized in time for the Department of Management deadlines. She said wellness participation targets matter for discounts and described the county’s recent experience with the ISAC wellness program that produced modest premium reductions: “Prior year, we got 1%. I think we got 4% this year,” she said when describing the program’s savings in past cycles.

Supervisors pressed on how to hold departments to spending authority and how to protect the county’s fund balances. Bridal reiterated that the county cannot change levy rates after they are set and emphasized the need for committed reserves and spending authority: she cited a commonly recommended reserve target of about 30% of operating funds to withstand mid‑year shocks.

The board also discussed options for using the statutory growth cap (the 3% levy‑growth benchmark referenced in conversation) as a mechanism to build a targeted reserve rather than draw down current fund balances. Supervisors debated whether to give department heads a fixed “bottom line” to prepare budgets against or to continue the more iterative back‑and‑forth approach. One supervisor argued upfront caps give clearer direction to department managers; another warned that necessary mid‑year amendments are sometimes unavoidable.

Bridal flagged additional budget pressures and near‑term items: required mailings tied to budget notices (she said printing and mailing cost about $12,000 last year), anticipated juvenile detention costs, and pending grant‑funded reimbursements tied to land acquisition transfers. She told the board she would prepare a comprehensive multi‑year worksheet and a 10‑year fund balance report for supervisors to review ahead of the board’s next meetings.

The board set next procedural steps: Ryan from Assured Partners (the county’s third‑party insurance partner) is scheduled to present details on insurance and partial self‑funding options at next week’s meeting, and the supervisors will discuss the compensation board and wage guidance at that same session. Bridal said she will run the requested reports and email them to supervisors before next week’s meetings.

The meeting closed with supervisors reiterating the need to protect reserves, minimize unfunded liabilities and provide timely guidance to department heads so budget submissions can be prepared within realistic constraints.