County mulls raises for 2019
♦ Commissioners also are looking at changes to the employee retirement plan along with added expenses for fuel and debt service.
Floyd County commissioners are looking at ways to fit an estimated $7.1 million in additional expenses into the budget next year, including merit raises of up to 4 percent for employees.
County Manager Jamie McCord is working with department heads on the 2019 budget, which is expected to be adopted before the end of the year. He gave the board an overview during their fall planning session this week and sought input on priorities.
“It’s hard to prioritize because they’re all critical,” McCord said.
Most are unavoidable.
Debt service payments of $750,000 a year are starting on industrial park property officials had hoped would have sold by now. New federal standards also are kicking in for staffing levels and inmate housing at the Floyd County Jail. And fuel costs are projected to rise for the county’s fleet of police cars, dump trucks, earthmovers and other vehicles.
“But most of our top priorities are employee-related,” Commissioner Wright Bagby noted.
Health insurance costs are trending up, with 13 people each needing medical care costing more than $50,000 this year. That accounts for 42 percent of the payout so far, according to Finance Director Susie Gass.
The county is self-insured. A 10-percent increase in premiums across the board went into effect Nov. 1, but McCord said the projected fund balance is low compared to potential expenses.
“I know we went up ... but we may have to subsidize from our general fund,” he told the board.
Commissioners also said they’d like to add bariatric surgery as a covered option, although initial expenses could be too big a hit to absorb.
Commissioner Allison Watters asked staffers to examine the potential effect on other claims.
“We’ll be saving in the long run on diabetes, heart attacks, migraines, all kind of issues,” she noted.
The county also has contracted for an actuarial analysis of its retirement plan, which currently imposes an 8-percent penalty for each year before an employee reaches the age of 65. It’s a balancing act between affordability and incentive — both to attract and retain good workers and to allow those in physically intense jobs to retire comfortably.
Several options are under consideration, including lowering the penalty or lowering the age to 62 with a minimum 30 years of service. A change could lead to a spate of vacancies, Bagby said.
“And then we’ve got to think about the payout for vacation days and other things that could hit us all at once,” Commissioner Scotty Hancock added.
Merit raises of up to 4 percent also are planned. Commissioners approved raises last year — for the first time since a hiring and pay freeze was instituted during the recession — but time and the low unemployment rate make qualified and experienced employees more valuable.
“I think it makes people like their job better ... That’s incentive to stay,” Commission Chair Rhonda Wallace said.
McCord, his senior staff and board members are expected to hold several more work sessions before a draft budget document is presented for public review.