Kootenai County commissioners weigh cuts as health insurance and step increases outpace revenue

Kootenai County commissioners began deliberations on the FY2027 budget on June 5, 2026, reviewing a staff analysis that shows baseline personnel costs, anticipated step increases and rising health-insurance expenses are likely to outpace projected revenue under 0%–3% tax scenarios.

Brandy, a county staff member presenting the spreadsheet analysis, told the board she allocated 2026 budget percentages to the FY27 revenue estimates and modeled 0%, 1%, 2% and 3% tax-increase scenarios to show where cuts would be needed by each elected official. She said the method excludes capital when calculating each office's ongoing share, then adds capital back as budget authority to illustrate the remaining shortfall.

The presentation highlighted that much of the growth in FY27 is already baked into next year's baseline. A board participant noted that the delta between the FY26 and FY27 A-budget baseline came in at $1,668,639 and that, under current assumptions, the total A-budget increase would be $3,351,689 if no A-budget requests are added.

Using the sheriff's office as an example, Brandy said the sheriff accounts for a very large share of the county's budget and would still need to cut roughly $4.1 million even with a 3% tax increase. She listed the sheriff's FY27 requests as about $2.4 million in personnel, $357,000 in B-budget increases and $21,000 in D-budget increases, and said that cutting all of those requests would only yield about $2.8 million in reductions.

"What that's showing me is, before we even take into account any personnel additional requests on top, their new baseline is already, and benefits are outpacing our ability to increase taxes," Brandy said, summarizing the analysis.

Commissioners and staff discussed the principal levers available to reduce costs or alter future projections. Brandy said she had reviewed the health-insurance assumptions with the plan administrator Alight and that the insurer could provide updated claims information in July; she noted the board could change employee contribution amounts or modify plan structure (deductibles and co-pays) but that such changes would affect hiring and retention and would need HR input. Brandy said she planned to meet with the HR director next week to discuss those impacts.

Participants observed that medical claims are cyclical and may decline after recent years of high claims; the presentation nonetheless assumed the current budgeted health-insurance increase unless the board chose to modify contribution levels or plan design.

The board also discussed the county's step/pay matrix. Commissioners said step and benefit increases have added materially to base personnel costs and that the county will need to revisit how steps are administered going forward to manage baseline growth. Brandy said Jessica is compiling a list of departments that oppose cuts and that she had circulated a template summarizing departmental asks; she will forward recommended cuts and per-department summaries to the commissioners for review.

There were no public comments. The meeting adjourned at 10:15 a.m.

Next steps noted in the meeting record: staff will refine recommended departmental cuts, Brandy will meet with HR to analyze the financial and HR impacts of possible plan or contribution changes, and the board will review the department summaries and recommended reductions before further deliberation.