Dukes County officials are looking to balance the existing budget for fiscal 2022, which currently sits at a slight deficit of $463, with $2,296,314 in projected expenditures and $2,295,850 in revenues anticipated.
At a Dukes County Commission (DCC) meeting Friday, commissioners discussed the major drivers of the budget burden, with county manager Martina Thornton identifying the increase in general liability insurance by approximately 8 to 10 percent as one factor.
According to Thornton, the substantial increase in retiree insurance from around $25,000 last year to about $70,000 in this year’s budget creates “an even bigger gap between what we are collecting, and what we are being required to pay.”
She added that more people happen to be retiring this year, and several of those people aren’t on Medicare yet, so the county must pay their health insurance entirely out of pocket.
Commission chair Christine Todd wondered whether the county bids out its insurance provider position each year, to which Thornton said insurance is exempt from the public procurement law, but they still do put out something similar to a request for proposals each year.
Thornton said she could reach out to other counties and see what their insurance rates look like, along with some Island towns.
Commissioner Tristan Israel said that when the Dukes County Sheriff’s Department split from the county, all their employees that were included in the county retirement system remained there.
“I believe we are being charged for about eight or nine people from the sheriff’s office on our budget. The sheriff’s not contributing. It costs us $132,000 in revenue. We can’t do it this year, it’s not insignificant,” Israel said.
Originally, approximately $18,000 was to be budgeted for a new public relations coordinator position, but Thornton said that position needed to be cut. “There is no such position planned for next year,” she said.
Commissioner Keith Chatinover wondered why the county is still cutting the much-needed position when there is such a significant revenue through the Registry of Deeds excise and other lines.
“In other lines it looks as if we are adding about $55,000, and we are still cutting the position,” he said.
Todd agreed, saying, “I don’t understand why we have to cut that position, we have allocated this money already.”
She added that the county is planning to release funds back to the towns, and wondered whether some of that money should go to creating a position “that is valid, and should be funded.”
The DCC finance committee will meet to discuss the allocation of overhead, and the increase in costs related to general and retiree health insurance.