Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the County Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Supervisors hear IT and department budget updates; adopt wage resolution, ask more study on health insurance
Summary
Bremer County department heads presented budget details: IT replacements and software costs, well grant pass‑throughs, and fee reviews. The board adopted a 2.8% wage resolution for elected officials (Resolution 26‑19) with one abstention and directed additional analysis of health‑insurance options for the self‑funded plan.
Department heads presented multiple budget line items and goals for FY'27, and the board acted on an elected‑official wage resolution while directing further work on health insurance.
Lindsay (department head) reviewed departments 8, 9 and 23, noting department expenses rose modestly (about 1.3% for depts. 8 and 9) and that well grants (dept. 23) are pass‑through items. She said abandoned wells must be reported and abandoned within 90 days if unused and recommended periodic fee reviews because Bremer’s permit fees remain low compared with neighboring counties.
Nate, the county CIS/IS director, provided a detailed IT budget: he proposed replacing 15 PCs on a five‑year cycle, listed major support fees (Mimecast, Sophos, Veeam), SSL and firewall renewal amounts, and described a potential migration to Office 365 G3 (estimated from GSA pricing at about $12 per user/month). Nate said hardware for the county data center has been extended for three more years and that the county must move from a Class C to a Class B subnet to accommodate more devices.
On elected wages, the board considered replacing the former compensation board role with the Board of Supervisors acting in that capacity. Staff proposed a 2.8% increase for elected officials; the sheriff and other elected officials argued for higher adjustments tied to comparative benchmarks. Supervisors agreed to adopt Resolution 26‑19 setting a 2.8% adjustment for elected positions; the motion passed with one supervisor abstaining (who cited a treasurer‑office percentage linkage as reason for abstention).
Health insurance: Staff reported the county’s self‑funded health insurance fund is stressed by claims below the stop‑loss threshold and is exploring higher deductibles, stop‑loss alternatives, and carrier RFPs. Supervisors warned that higher employee premiums or deductibles could offset wage increases; staff said they will meet again with carriers and present recommendations next week.
Implementation and next steps: Supervisors directed department heads to fold agreed wage changes into budgets for consistency and asked insurance staff to return with scenarios showing impacts on premiums and net employee pay.
