Walworth County HR committee reviews staffing changes in 2027 administrator's budget

County staff presented an overview of personnel-related items in the 2027 administrator's budget during the Walworth County Human Resources Committee meeting on Sept. 16.

Staff member Katie told the committee that the packet lists a detailed summary of personnel actions on pages 22–28 and called out "a net reduction of 4.85 FTE." She said a classification-and-compensation study by Cottingham Butler is underway and that a tentative meeting with the consultant is set for Sept. 28 to discuss pay philosophy and preliminary results.

Administrator Mark Liberta (introduced in the packet) outlined why the committee might delay implementing an increase in the employee share of health premiums until the county completes the class-and-comp study. "Related to the change in, premiums for the year that occurs at the beginning of the year to support our health fund and and track increased costs on the health insurance side," he said, explaining that delaying the employee-share change would let the board align any premium change with new wage scales.

Committee members did not object to bringing forward a resolution to set rates for open enrollment while signaling intent to consider delaying the employee-share change pending the class-and-comp study. Staff said funding in the 2026 budget can cover several months of the health-fund impact while the study is completed and that a supplemental resolution would be presented in October to align implementation with the final study outcomes.