Saginaw County previews FY27 budget, flags steep health and legal cost increases and major IT spending

At a March 3 special meeting of the Saginaw County Commissioners, finance administrator Jill Flaherty presented an initial FY27 budget that she said currently projects roughly a 6% increase over the prior year, with the total still subject to changes from pending departmental submissions and collective‑bargaining outcomes.

Flaherty told the board that legal fees have spiked this year and are “currently tracking to be about a 120,000,” substantially above what she said had been budgeted previously. She said the vendor Trio will discontinue support for the county’s current finance software and that migrating to Trio’s web‑based product will cost “about 8 to $10,000.”

Employee benefits are another major driver. Flaherty said she is projecting a 22.24% increase in benefits and quoted a renewal estimate that a colleague, Malcolm, provided as about 25.31% for health insurance. The county’s self‑insurance arrangement — under which the county pays most claims up to a stated threshold and relies on reinsurance above that level — has produced several consecutive high‑claim years, she said, leaving little short‑term flexibility to lower the projected increase.

On capital and facilities, Flaherty said current capital requests are down about 37.6% to a total near $163,000 because a major roof project was funded last year. She outlined a list of smaller proposed projects for the courthouse, including carpeting, foyer repairs for water damage, granite step repair and ADA work, and asked the board to instruct facilities staff to separate immediate current‑year expenses from newly proposed reserves.

Information technology received sustained attention. Flaherty summarized Devin’s plan as a roughly $151,000 increase that includes managed services from Harper Digital for 24/7 cybersecurity monitoring and a proposed new flex server she estimated at about $40,000. Commissioners asked that IT separate operating costs from capital seed funding and requested a more detailed breakdown when Devin presents next week.

Other departmental notes from the presentation: the district attorney’s budget shows a headline 19.34% increase largely caused by moving a position from a VOCA grant into the baseline (a net $6,875 loss), deeds office revenue is expected to rise ~11.89% under a new fee structure, and emergency management’s budget is up ~26.89% with some costs temporarily moved into the general fund for conservative budgeting.

Flaherty also said she will seek $200,000 to fund accrued employee leave after identifying a zero balance in that account, and budgeted $7,500 to cover higher insurance deductibles. On communications, she said staff had budgeted full‑year tower lease costs even though some towers remain offline and that the line could be cut if towers come online soon.

Commissioners repeatedly noted that collective‑bargaining results — not yet provided — could materially alter the FY27 numbers. The board scheduled a follow‑up with the budget advisory committee and asked staff to provide year‑to‑date figures and clearer separations between current‑year expenditures and reserve seeds before finalizing the budget. Flaherty said the budget remains “in progress” and that changes can be made up to the finalization deadline.

The commissioners will review the updated materials at the budget advisory committee meeting next Monday and again at subsequent meetings before the budget is finalized.