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Ellis County adopts internal unemployment cost-allocation to push departments to contest claims
Summary
The commissioners approved a temporary cost-allocation model to distribute unemployment insurance costs to departments based on usage and protest behavior, aiming to incentivize departments to contest ineligible claims and reduce the county's unemployment liabilities.
Ellis County’s commissioners approved an internal unemployment cost-allocation model intended to make departments more accountable for unemployment claims tied to their staffing decisions.
HR Director Sharon Mancilla told the court the county’s unemployment reserve had been depleted and the county received an invoice showing a deficit of $29,381.78. She said recent claims averaged roughly $13,546 per person and that many claims were not being protested. The model gives departments discretion to contest claims; costs for claims that are not protested could be apportioned to the department’s budget lines.
“Bottom line, yes, we can” distribute the cost to departments, Mancilla told the court, adding the approach could be adjusted in the next budget process. Commissioners debated fairness and incentives: one commissioner said arbitrarily charging all departments would be unfair; others said allocating costs to departments that do not contest questionable claims would encourage better stewardship of county funds. The court voted to adopt the allocation model and to re-evaluate it in the next budget cycle.
Next steps: HR will implement the allocation through departmental salary or cost lines beginning May 1, 2026, through September 30, 2026, and the county will reassess the approach during the next budget process.
