Okaloosa County BOCC — February 12, 2013 (meeting #1122) — reading text

offered an amount equal to six (6) months of their current annual base salary or $25,000, whichever was greater, and 50% of employee single rate health insurance for up to 18 months. 25 employees were approved for this program saving the BCC approximately $3.6 million over the 3 years following the offering. Attachment: 2013-2014 Look Ahead (1361 : Look Ahead on Staffing, Projects and Infrastructure Needs) In 2010, another VSIP was offered. This time full-time employees receiving contributions through the Florida Retirement System (FRS) not scheduled to terminate DROP in calendar year 2010 were eligible to take advantage of the program provided they met certain service requirements. The program offered the same incentive as the 2008 VSIP. 23 employees were approved for this program saving the BCC approximately $3.4 million over the 3 years following the offering. Since the 2008 and 2010 VSIPs had been so successful in helping to eliminate positions without the use of layoffs, and faced with another tight budget year, the County Administrator requested to offer another VSIP in 2012. However, 2011 legislation severely limited the offering of a VSIP similar to the 2008 and 2010 programs. The Statute (F.S. 215.425) amendments capped severance pay to an amount not greater than 20 weeks of compensation. Therefore, the VSIP offered in 2012 offered full-time employees with at least 10 years of service with the BCC an enhanced leave payout option and 50% of employee single rate health insurance for up to 18 months. The enhanced leave payout option provided payment of a maximum of 500 hours of annual leave as well as payment at 100% for the first 1,040 hours of sick leave and 20% for all sick leave hours over 1,040. Only 2 employees applied and were approved for this program saving approximately $350,000 over the 3 years following the offering. Insurance Benefits In the last 6 years, the Board has seen its employee benefits costs increase approximately 30.2%, the majority of which has been due to an increase in the health insurance rates. The Board has made many changes to its employee benefits over the last 6 years in an effort to continue to provide employees with good insurance and keep costs to a minimum. In 2007, employees were given a choice between 3 different health insurance options – a Base Plan, an HRA and Tricare Supplement. Also in 2007, employees started contributing to their employee only health monthly premium. Prior to 2007, 100% of the employee only health benefit had been paid for by the Board. In 2008, employees who had coverage elsewhere and opted out of the county health insurance program began receiving a monthly stipend - currently $100.00. Then in 2009, employees were given another health insurance option – a Buy-Up plan – where employees could choose to pay a higher percentage of the premium for enhanced health insurance benefits. Beginning in 2011, employees were offered Packet Pg. 20  2.a.A the option to purchase vision insurance with no additional cost to the Board, further enhancing the benefit products offered. Finally in 2012, the Board solicited bids for dental, life insurance, accidental death & dismemberment as well as long term disability insurance. The new insurances selected helped to further reduce costs for the Board as well as employees. Attachment: 2013-2014 Look Ahead (1361 : Look Ahead on Staffing, Projects and Infrastructure Needs) Since October 2008, Okaloosa County has participated in a ProShare agreement with Florida Blue. This is a 5 year program wherein the County receives a refund of excess premiums paid based on a formula including premiums paid, administrative costs and claims paid out. In Fiscal Year 2012, the County received its first premium refund of $1,132,761 for the first 3 years of the agreement. This ProShare rebate was used to suspend the $40 per month employee contribution for Fiscal Year 2012 and FY 2013 as well as absorb the 3% renewal increase for Fiscal Year 2013. It is anticipated that the County will receive a ProShare rebate in Fiscal Year 2014 for years four and five of the agreement; however, at this time the amount of the rebate is unknown. BCC Employee Insurance $12,000.00 $10,000.00 $8,000.00 Proshare Paid $6,000.00 Employee Paid $4,000.00 BCC Paid $2,000.00 $0.00 FY 2008 FY 2009 FY 2010 FY 2011 FY 2012 FY 2013 As funding has continued to be reduced, the County has looked for additional monies in the budget. Sometimes that has meant rethinking the way programs are budgeted. Historically, the budget for insurance included funding for 100% participation. Since the actual participation rate is closer to 85%, the Fiscal Year 2013 insurance budget was reduced to be more closely in line with this number, allowing the remaining money to be allocated elsewhere within the budget. Leave Accruals and Payouts In 2000, the Board approved major revisions to the annual and sick leave accruals and payouts. These changes included increasing the annual leave accrual rates for employees with 15 or more years of service with the BCC, adding different accrual rates of annual and sick leave for employees working Packet Pg. 21  2.a.A in EMS as well as modifying the schedule used to pay out annual and sick leave at termination. These changes were made in an effort to remain consistent with other public entities, provide incentive for employees to save greater balances to be better prepared in case of serious illness or injury, improve operations and, in the case of departments that operate 24 hours per day, save in funds paid out in overtime for replacements when employees call in sick. Attachment: 2013-2014 Look Ahead (1361 : Look Ahead on Staffing, Projects and Infrastructure Needs) Also in 2000, the Board implemented an optional yearly sick leave pay out. In November each year, employees who have a minimum sick leave balance and who have used minimal to no sick leave can choose to be paid out a specific number of hours, up to 24 hours maximum. This policy was implemented to provide incentive to employees to use sick leave only when necessary and improve morale. The benefits of such a policy to the Board were employees using fewer unscheduled sick leave hours and a reduction in the liability of sick leave accruals. The Optional Yearly Sick Leave Pay Out can be found in the Okaloosa County Human Resources Policy, Chapter IX, Section H. Under current policy, employees who have completed their probationary period are eligible to receive payment of unused annual leave at termination or upon electing to participate in the Florida Retirement System Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP). The maximum number of hours paid at termination depends on the employee’s regular schedule. For example employees regularly scheduled to work 40 hours per week are paid for all hours of unused annual leave up to a maximum of 240 hours, while employees regularly scheduled to work 24 hours on/ 48 hours off are paid for all hours up to a maximum of 336 hours. There is no maximum number of annual leave hours an employee can accrue. Under current policy, employees with 10 years of service with the BCC are eligible to receive payment of unused sick leave at termination and are paid at 50% of the first 480 hours, 25% of the second 480 hours, and 20% of all hours over 960 hours. For example, an employee with 1,000 hours of unused sick leave would be paid 368 hours (240 + 120 + 8). There is also no maximum number of sick leave hours an employee can accrue. As of January 14, 2013, annual leave balances ranged from 0 hours to 1,952 and sick leave balances ranged from 0 hours to 2,862. Most employees with large leave balances understand that they will only be paid a portion of their leave upon termination and see it more as an insurance policy if a serious illness or injury should occur. Departments are permitted to allow employees nearing the end of their tenure with the BCC to use their accrued annual leave, but it is determined based on operational demands of the department and is not an entitlement. The Board does not currently budget for terminal leave payout or Packet Pg. 22  2.a.A the optional yearly sick leave pay out. In 2011 and 2012 the Board paid out approximately $320,000 and $171,000 in terminal leave respectively. If changes to the existing policies were considered (e.g., leave accrual rates, amount carried over from year to year, or pay out at termination), it would be recommended that current employees be grandfathered in. Employees with Attachment: 2013-2014 Look Ahead (1361 : Look Ahead on Staffing, Projects and Infrastructure Needs) large leave balances are historically your longer term employees who have not abused their leave time. Making changes that would drastically reduce their balances will create dissatisfaction and lower morale. Information Systems Many Information Technology (IT) infrastructure improvements are needed to support the on-going technical operations of the Board of County Commissioners. New equipment purchases have been put off for several years but aging equipment, including Electronic mail servers, may soon fail if not replaced. Annual investment is needed in order to replace hardware and allow for staff to efficiently perform their mission and to comply with Sunshine requirements for backup and archive of valuable databases. A well-planned annual approach to funding IT needs will avoid costly and protracted expenditures to meet the needs of County departments. Information Systems: Many of the 600-plus personal computers (PC) need replacement. Also, a large number of servers and backup systems that are required by Sunshine Law to backup valuable email and county data are old and need to be replaced. Additional disk space is needed in order for staff to manage changes and support request. Over 210 County PCs are 6 years and older. To compensate, over 100 used computers have been repurposed in the past 3 years to allow for continued County operations; another 50 will be replaced this year. Even with these beneficial actions, over 150 more machines will need replacement in Fiscal Year 2014. One issue in particular that will increase the need to replace old systems is that Microsoft Windows XP will no longer be supported after that year. To sustain requirements, the County must modern operating systems in order to get support and utilize new technologies. Further delays in necessary upgrades will have mission-impacting results and replacement estimated cost is $90,000 per year. Systems and Networks: The section’s 80 servers are the workhorses of County operations. Entire departments rely on the function of these servers which provide applications, data and