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Madison County schedules budget decisions, flags health‑insurance and school funding as key choices
Summary
The Madison County Board of Supervisors scheduled a sequence of April–May actions to finalize the FY27 budget and asked supervisors to decide next week on COLA and health‑insurance contribution options, and on the school division's recently adopted request.
Madison County supervisors set a tight schedule this week to finish the FY27 budget and asked the board to resolve major policy choices — including how to share health‑insurance costs and whether to fund the school division's requests — before staff prepares a final draft for public notice.
At a March 12 budget work session, County Administrator Weekley told the board the draft includes a 3% cost‑of‑living adjustment (COLA) placeholder and that staff will model variants for health‑insurance cost sharing. "There's 3% COLA in there right now, your discretion," Weekley said, asking supervisors to indicate whether to fund the full COLA, a reduced amount or to target increases selectively.
The board set a near‑term calendar: an outside‑agency and departmental decision session is planned for March 19, staff will prepare a final draft for a March 26 work session after receiving direction, a public hearing is tentatively scheduled for April 14 and budget adoption would follow at the April 28 meeting. Final appropriation of operating and capital funds is expected May 26, before the July 1 start of the fiscal year.
Weekley and Finance Director Jonathan (last name on file) walked the board through a modeling spreadsheet that links three levers the board must decide: COLA percentage, employer share of health‑insurance premiums and multiple position requests from departments. The spreadsheet shows how changes in those choices affect the amount of unassigned fund balance required to balance the FY27 budget.
Supervisors asked staff to provide a range of options for health coverage — including a version that keeps the county's current contribution percentages and alternatives that shift more costs to employees — and to show the payroll impact to families and individual employees in dollars per pay period. Staff said they will present the county's and neighboring localities' plan designs and contribution percentages at the March 19 session to help compare options.
The board also noted the Madison County School Board adopted its FY27 budget and a salary proposal on March 9. Weekley said staff will include the school request in the March 19 outside‑agency review so supervisors can decide how much to appropriate to the school budget when they finalize their own numbers.
What happens next: supervisors will use next week's session to set policy directions on COLA, insurance, capital and position requests. Those choices will determine whether the final proposed budget relies on an opening balance appropriation from unassigned fund balance or on revenue and expenditure adjustments.
