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Forsyth County outlines $134 million campus project, says employee center will help curb rising health costs
Summary
A Forsyth County staff member told the county board that the new campus totals roughly $134 million, including a $54 million administration building and a roughly $15 million Freedom Commons employee center funded from surplus dollars; the county said the center aims to reduce rising employer health-insurance costs.
A Forsyth County staff member told the board that the county’s new campus has a total project cost the speaker gave as $134,000,000, with the administration building accounting for $54,000,000 and the employee center costing roughly $15,000,000.
The staff member said the county began serious planning and setting aside funds for the project in 2016–2017 and that, beginning in 2018, the board elected to reserve surplus dollars at the end of each budget year for either capital improvements or the administration building. "This building we're sitting in here, this is a $54,000,000 investment," the staff member said.
According to the staff member, the project was financed with those surplus dollars and by allocations from the county’s capital improvement program; the speaker said Forsyth County currently operates off of "a little over $900,000,000" for a five-year capital improvement program. The staff member described the decision to use surplus funds as a way to avoid borrowing to finance construction when the county was ready.
The staff member identified the new employee center by name as Freedom Commons and said employees voted on the name. The transcript states the employee center was funded through "surplus of benefit funds" (unspent employee benefit dollars) and that the county "elected to invest with the surplus dollars in that building is about $15,000,000, in that employee center."
On rising health costs, the staff member said, "Between 2020 and 2025, we saw an average increase of 10.5%, which equates to approximately $2,500,000 annually." The county said it has partnered with "1 to 1 health and Corporate Sports Unlimited" to help manage the center with the "sole purpose of doing 1 thing, and that's flattening that curve of our health insurance cost," which the speaker characterized as a direct cost reduction to Forsyth County residents.
The transcript contains two slightly different totals for the campus: the staff member first referred to "about 130,000,000" and later stated "total project cost, dollars 134,000,000." The report reflects both figures as presented in the meeting transcript. The transcript does not record a formal vote or other board action approving these figures during the quoted discussion.
No additional legal authorities or statutes were cited during the exchange. The staff member referenced employee-services director Charity Clark in relation to the county’s discussions about health costs.
