Polk County Administrator Chuck Whiting updated preliminary budgets Tuesday morning at the Polk County Board of Commissioners meeting.
The board was informed of potential cost changes regarding employee health insurance and what that may cost. “Health insurance for most of our groups came in. It doesn’t affect the budget, but it does affect the employees,” said Polk County Administrator Chuck Whiting, “The county contributes $1,350 a month in 2024 towards the Blue Cross Blue Shield plan.”
With employee insurance rates increasing by nine percent going into 2024, Whiting stated the increase won’t affect the county’s agreement with Blue Cross Blue Shield. “That’s okay; it’s more of a reflection of the agreement with Blue Cross Blue Shield per capita on rate increases for 2022, 2023, and 2024,” said Whiting, “But I’m a little concerned that the true rate may be higher than that.” Polk County commissioners and Whiting agreed to monitor these rates closely heading into 2025.
Other department budgets have been submitted and need refinement. The deadline for all department budget plans needs to be forwarded to Polk County by the final Polk County board meeting in September to set the preliminary levy. “We need to collect other information like County Program Aid, debt service, things that will be in the budget,” said Whiting, “In three to four weeks, we have a couple of days we have budget reviews with the board in each department and set the preliminary budget after that.” There will also be a public hearing on the preliminary budget in December.
Whiting is projecting a 4.5 percent preliminary levy to decrease to three percent by year-end.
As of now, Whiting believes there is nothing significant in terms of changes to the budget, stating “nothing stands out as unique.” The board is set to look at position issues within the county and take proposals that have come forward.
CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS
The commissioners are discussing the possible re-roofing of the Government Center, and they can fund that project with previous bond money at their disposal. The board agreed on taking bids for this project in January of 2024 at the earliest.
