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Amherst County staff outlines 33 position requests and a projected 14.4% jump in health-insurance costs
Summary
Staff presented 33 position requests across departments — including public-safety IT specialist, GIS analyst, additional EMS and sheriff staffing and social-services positions — and said health insurance is expected to rise about 14.4%, adding roughly $425,000 to costs; staff proposed a 3% pay increase as an alternative to a one‑time bonus.
County staff told the Board of Supervisors the FY27 packet includes 33 position requests totalling the amounts listed in the packet and recommended supervisors rank requests before the March meeting.
Staff highlighted several prioritized positions: a public-safety IT specialist to support a new CAD system and field technology; a GIS analyst to expand internal GIS capacity; an applications specialist to manage RDA and other departmental software; additional EMS and fire positions to expand 24-hour coverage and a fifth medic unit; two family‑service and benefit‑service specialists for social-services workloads; and a tourism specialist position funded from lodging-tax revenues that would be blended with an existing role.
Staff said many positions carry partial state funding (for example some social‑services positions) and noted the packet annotates local-share portions. Separately, staff reported health-insurance premiums could rise about 14.4 (percent), representing roughly $425,000 higher cost next year; staff described options including exploring self-insurance (which would require about $1,000,000 in an upfront reserve and third-party administration costs) or changing carriers but noted constraints such as a three-year restriction on re-entering the TLC/local-choice program and potential termination fees that staff said they would estimate and report back.
Staff also described a near-term temporary hire: a part‑time data-entry position to move treasurer's receipts from the county's legacy system into RDA while the full RDA go-live proceeds; staff said $10,000 from the RDA budget would fund that temporary role and the worker was expected to start immediately.
