Resident presenter says Seward County’s employee benefits cost outpaces Liberal’s

A Liberal resident, Carolyn Huddleston, told the Seward County commission she compared the county and city employee-benefit budgets and concluded the county will pay more per employee in 2026. Huddleston said the county’s net projected obligation to cover employee benefits is $6,619,453 after reimbursements and employee premium contributions; when other items are included she summarized a gross total of about $8,519,453.

Huddleston walked commissioners through budget tables and calculations she supplied and highlighted that county medical insurance was budgeted at $4,987,693 while the county’s total insurance and associated processing/cap costs were about $5,837,693 before subtracting employee payments (which she estimated at $517,800). She summarized per-employee benefit totals of roughly $37,566 for the county versus $31,672 for the city, representing an 18.6% higher per-employee cost in the county’s figures.

Huddleston offered to provide her underlying city-side line items to staff on request. Commissioners did not take formal action on the presentation but acknowledged the data and the offer to share supporting files.