City trust reports $2.5M surplus; council presses for final DOI audit results

Trust representatives updated the Meridian City Council on the employee benefits plan trust at the April 28 meeting, reporting that a previous council-approved $1.5 million contribution and improved claims experience produced an ending-quarter surplus of roughly $2.5 million.

The trust representative told council that early-plan-year data (January–February) show medical and pharmacy claims down about 15% compared with the 2025 plan year; medical claims alone were down about 23% while pharmacy spending rose roughly 5.5%. On a rolling 12-month basis, total costs were up roughly 1.3% and claims costs up about 4.9%, the representative said. The trust reported two claimants with costs above $50,000 so far for the plan year; neither had exceeded the stop-loss at the time of the update.

Trust staff described the trust’s intent to perform a market check of carriers and third-party administrators before the 2027 plan-year funding decisions. That market check (a focused procurement intelligence exercise rather than a full RFP) is expected to be completed within about a month and to inform 2027 plan projections, the representative said.

Council members expressed concern that preliminary findings from a Department of Insurance five-year audit had not been finalized and said they expect any DOI findings or material correspondence to be shared promptly with the council. Several members asked whether finance staff had been looped into trust activity; trust leadership said the finance department historically opted out of trust management but that new legal counsel (Alan Bosch) had been retained and would assist in responding to DOI questions. Staff said they hoped to finalize the DOI five-year audit “in the next couple of weeks” pending vendor claim data required by auditors.

Council also asked about utilization details, including GLP-1 drug spending; the trust representative said Mounjaro had been one of the top high-cost drug spends (about $169,000 and 147 prescriptions in the last 12 months) and that semaglutide (Ozempic/Wegovy class) also appeared among higher-cost drugs for some counts. Council members asked for timely provision of final audit results and any DOI correspondence; they emphasized transparency given the trust’s separate governance structure and the trust’s budgetary implications for the city.