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County presents FY2025 carryover package; schools seek $1.8M to shore up health insurance reserve
Summary
County finance staff recommended replenishing capital reserves and presented FY2025 carryover recommendations; school division presented a carryover plan that includes $1.8M to the schools' Health Insurance Fund and other capital and transportation uses after reporting higher‑than‑expected early claims.
County administration and the school division outlined the FY2025 carryover package and funding recommendations during the Dec. 11 work session.
Finance staff said general fund local revenues totaled about $211 million (roughly 5.8% growth), with the largest local revenue sources being real estate (about $120 million) and personal property (around $40 million). Fund balance highlights: total governmental fund balance reported at $194.6 million, with the general fund at $82.1 million and unassigned general fund of $54.5 million. Staff recommended replenishing the capital reserve by roughly $6.8 million and noted a positive impact from bond activity and favorable credit ratings.
The school division presented its carryover package and asked for allocations into the asset and health reserves. The schools requested approximately $1.8 million be added to the Health Insurance Fund (HIF) in addition to existing reserves (noted as roughly $6.0 million in the packet), cited unusually high early claims and said 22% of claims accounted for the bulk of overage in a year with about 4,000 claims. The school finance lead explained that the combined plan is multi‑step: placing one‑time carryover dollars into reserves while pursuing recurring plan design changes, increased oversight and potential employee cost‑sharing for FY2027.
Board members pressed for more detail on the HIF trajectory and options to close any remaining gap, and staff said the school finance committee and external consultants are working on recommendations for recurring cost changes. Other school carryover priorities included transportation ($1.43M for buses and fleet), athletic and facility improvements ($1.8M), building maintenance and security infrastructure and playground ADA improvements.
Next steps: staff will include carryover appropriation requests for board consideration and the school division will present further analysis and options to the finance committee in January; the county and schools will continue joint oversight of the HIF and consider recurring changes to reduce future exposure.
