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County commissioners agree to use opioid-settlement funds and one-month health-insurance premium holiday to close FY27 gap
Summary
Sweetwater County commissioners voted to pursue a combined plan to close a projected FY27 shortfall: use roughly $500,000 from opioid-settlement funds and enact a one-month health-insurance premium payment holiday funded from the county's self-insurance surplus. Staff will present final budget amendments on June 30.
The Sweetwater County Board of County Commissioners moved toward a package of one-time measures on June 16 to close a projected fiscal 2027 budget gap, combining $500,000 in opioid-settlement allocations with a one-month countywide health-insurance premium payment holiday.
Rebecca (county staff) told commissioners the county's updated carryover stood at about $1,064,006 after recent capital adjustments. Commissioners discussed options to avoid drawing down general reserves and to spread relief across component units and outside agencies.
Gary McClain, the county's HR director, outlined a proposal to engage Loomlight to audit claims processing by the health plan's third-party administrator (UMR) and explained the mechanics of a premium-payment holiday. "If we do a one-month premium payment holiday, the county share would be about $511,000; total savings across all plan participants would be roughly $855,000," McClain said. He recommended holding the holiday late in the fiscal year to maximize interest-income offsets.
Commissioner Slaughter proposed using $500,000 of opioid-settlement funds to reduce the shortfall; Christina Marshall, grants manager, advised that the settlement monies are constrained to eligible substance-use and treatment-related expenditures but said she could identify qualifying uses and track expenditures through established grant/accounting procedures.
Commissioners also discussed budgeting savings from long-running vacant positions (an estimated $500,000 over departments) and a previously discussed target that outside agencies keep roughly 120 days'cash on hand. Several commissioners stressed the need not to make the premium holiday an annual practice. "I am agreeable to that for this year," the chair said, adding it should remain an exceptional measure.
The board directed staff to prepare final budget amendments and department-level adjustments and set a special meeting to adopt the FY27 budget for June 30 at 8:30 a.m. The packet for adoption will include the opioid fund transfers, the premium-holiday accounting entries and the proposed payroll/personnel budget adjustments for board approval.
