Rising health insurance costs prompt workforce reduction

Flathead County is reducing its workforce by the equivalent of 10.7 full-time employees in the coming fiscal year to offset sizable increases in health-insurance costs.

The workforce downsizing will produce a budget saving of $647,856 in the fiscal year 2019 preliminary budget released this week. The new budget year starts July 1.

“We asked our department heads and elected officials to freeze their operational-cost budget (outside personnel services) and most were able to achieve that result,” county Administrator Mike Pence said in his budget message.

“With the freeze and a reduction in full-time equivalent positions we have been able to achieve a balanced budget with adequate cash reserves,” Pence said.

All of the workforce reductions have been made through attrition, county Finance Director Amy Dexter said. There were no direct layoffs. The reductions included one full-time employee from the Building Maintenance Department, one from the County Attorney’s Office, eight from the Adult Detention Center, a half-time employee from the Superintendent of Schools Office and two-tenths of an employee reduction in the Finance Department.

The preliminary budget is based on a projected 2 percent increase in property-tax revenue that can’t be determined until the county receives its new valuation numbers from the Montana Department of Revenue in early August.

This year’s proposed budget of $90.6 million is up slightly from last year’s $90.3 million in total appropriation dollars. A small increase in expenditures of about $380,630 takes into account additional longevity costs and any step increase provided, along with a 2.1 percent cost-of-living raise for county employees.

The county estimates its cash reserves to be at a 22.52 percent level by the end of the fiscal year in June 2019, “which is healthy and adequate,” Pence said.

“However, we are estimating a $631,913 decrease in our cash reserves for all our tax levy funds,” he added.

The county commissioners will vote on the preliminary budget at 9:15 a.m. Thursday, June 28. Public comments will be taken at 9 a.m.

Features Editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.