Kandiyohi County employees to see health insurance premiums drop, salaries rise [West Central Tribune, Willmar, Minn.]

Sep. 9—WILLMAR

— Employees of Kandiyohi County will soon be getting a break on their monthly health insurance premiums, thanks to action taken by the

Kandiyohi County Board

on Tuesday.

The board also made a big change to the county's salary schedule, meaning employees will see larger annual raises over a shorter period than the schedule currently allows.

"We are really trying to get things up to speed with our employees and to treat them fairly at all levels regarding health insurance and wages," said County Administrator Kelsey Baker.

The salary schedule change will have an impact on the 2024 budget and county tax levy. On Tuesday, the board set the preliminary levy at $38,183,600, a 5 percent increase over the 2023 tax levy of $36,362,370.

To keep the levy increase at a palatable level, a decision was made to use $850,000 in reserves. Without the reserves, the levy would have increased by 7.34 percent.

There was some concern about using reserves for salary increases, but at the end the board approved the use. The county has a healthy reserve balance and the board decided to use it for these reasons.

"Reserves are put there for the times you need to call on them," said Commissioner Roger Imdieke. "With the inflation that is going on now and the impact it will have on property taxes, I think now is the time to call on some of those reserves and use them."

Even by using reserves to keep the increase at 5 percent, the percentage upsurge in the tax levy for 2024 will be the highest the county has seen for at least 14 years.

The next largest increase was back in 2011, when it went up by 4.71 percent.

Baker said she was initially extremely hesitant to bring forward such a large levy increase. However, the way the world is now requires employers to take big action. She said employers have to stay on top of wages and health insurance, to make sure they remain competitive.

"This year we are really looking at if from an employee standpoint," Baker said. "How do we retain and recruit."

The first issue taken up by the board was a shift in how the health insurance premiums are paid between the employee and the employer. The county's policy of how it splits premium increases between the two parties is no longer competitive when compared to other counties.

Connie Mort, the county's human resources director, said she had two job offers rejected recently due to how much the potential employee would have to pay for health insurance, even though the salary was more. Mort also said she has heard from people who have left the county's employment that health insurance costs are a concern.

"This goes really toward recruitment but also goes toward retention," Mort said.

The proposal presented by Mort and approved by the board was to reset the distribution of the health insurance premiums. The county will pay 85 percent of the premiums for single plans and 70 percent for family plans, saving the employees hundreds of dollars per month. The county has a total of four different health insurance plans for single and families with 352 employees enrolled in those plans.

"If we really want to be competitive and we really want to be serious about retaining our quality employees we have and attracting quality employees, I really feel this is a necessary ask," Mort said.

Under the newly approved premium distribution plan, the county will pay a total of $5,791,137 in health insurance costs in 2024 up from $5,049,673 in 2023. Baker did say the county will be using its health insurance reserves fund, that can only be used for health insurance costs, to offset the increase in 2024, meaning it won't impact next year's levy.

The second employee compensation change approved by the board was to compress the salary schedule from 15 steps to 10. This means as an employee hits their year anniversary, they will go up the salary schedule at a faster rate, receiving higher annual raises instead of smaller raises over more years.

An employee will hit the maximum salary for their position in 10 years instead of 15 with the new schedule. Once employees reach the 10th step, they will no longer receive a step increase every year but will get the annual cost-of-living increases all employees get at the beginning of the year.

Mort said Kandiyohi County competes for employees with many counties that have wage scales with 8 to 12 steps, which means those employees may make more than a Kandiyohi County employee with the same number of years under their belt.

"Our 15-step scale really expands the salary," Mort said. "It may be the same salary but the steps are considerably smaller and it takes longer to get there."

With the new salary schedule in place, which includes the 5 percent across-the-board pay increase approved by the County Board in June, employees will see their pay jump next year. It is front-loading the employees now, so they can enjoy that increase in pay sooner, a big help during a time of high inflation and rising interest rates.

Baker said she had directed Mort and county financial officer Karen Anderson to find ways to improve employee compensation and she backs their findings and plans.

"I said if you can make this happen, I'll back you," Baker said. "This is something I truly think is really important in today's world. It is an employee-driven economy right now and we need to find good employees that want to stay working for Kandiyohi County and this is a way to do this."

While the plan had been to approve the preliminary levy at the Sept. 19 meeting, the commissioners decided to go ahead and do it on Tuesday. By setting the preliminary levy, the county commissioners have set the levy ceiling for next year's budget. This means the levy can still be reduced before final approval in December, but it cannot be increased unless under special circumstances.

Baker said the board's approval of these changes to the salary schedule, health insurance premiums and the levy increase is showing the commissioners' gratitude and support for the hundreds of employees who work for Kandiyohi County. She said she understands it wasn't an easy decision for the board, as it will increase property taxes, but it shows the county feels all their employees are valuable.

"By doing this we are truly leading by example and we show forth our effort to recognize and thank the employees that all continue to work here," Baker said.

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