Commissioners schedule workshop after staff flag employee-benefit shortfall, health-insurance increase

Commissioner (S2) and staff (S5) led a prolonged review of draft 2026 budget lines and flagged material concerns in the county’s employee-benefit fund, health-insurance accounts, and several departmental line items. Commissioners noted the employee-benefit fund shows a negative beginning/ending cash balance for 2026 and staff observed that the shift to Freedom Claims accounting (started mid-2025) affects comparative actuals. "The beginning cash are negative for employee benefit," a staff member summarized, and commissioners asked for Tara and Scott to attend a follow-up meeting to explain the numbers.

Staff explained the Freedom Claims amounts reflect a partial year and that employee contributions and other receipts were calculated conservatively; the proposed 2026 numbers include transfers intended to maintain a buffer. "We have been yes. Because... we started in June 25," staff said, noting the 2025 actuals covered only part of the year. Commissioners requested a dedicated budget workshop with Scott and Tara to reconcile the employee-benefit accounting before required public-notice deadlines: "If Lauren or Scott next Monday can get on and help us explain that, that would be great," Commissioner (S2) said.

Separately, commissioners noted a nearly $400,000 projected increase in health-insurance costs in the draft budget and asked staff to verify methods used to compute the health-insurance estimate (one-month observation scaled to 12 months was cited by staff). "Health insurance is up almost $400,000," a commissioner observed. The board directed staff to reconcile department-submitted sheets with the compiled draft, verify transfers and earmarks (including one flagged $700,000 bridge entry), and return with corrected figures at the scheduled workshop.