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Ellis County adopts temporary unemployment cost‑allocation model to manage rising claims
Summary
With the county unemployment fund in deficit, the court approved a temporary internal allocation model (05/01/2026–09/30/2026) to charge departments for unemployment claims based on usage/risk to encourage protests where appropriate; commissioners emphasized fairness and the need to contest unwarranted claims.
Ellis County officials approved a temporary internal unemployment cost‑allocation model after HR Director Sharon Mancilla reported the county's TAC unemployment fund was depleted and the county received an invoice for $29,381.78. The model, effective May 1 through Sept. 30, 2026, would allocate claim costs to departments based on usage and risk and is intended to encourage departmental protest of claims that may be inappropriate.
Mancilla said the county's average quarterly reserve historically has been $40,000–$45,000 and noted an uptick in claims; commissioners debated whether chargebacks should apply to every department or only to departments that did not represent or protest claims. Several commissioners said they did not want to arbitrarily burden departments that appropriately contest claims; the court approved the temporary model unanimously and directed staff to revisit the approach during the next budget process.
