Oconto County board passes 2023 budget guidelines

Oconto County officials were somewhat blindsided June 1 when WEA Trust abruptly announced it is leaving the insurance business as of Jan. 1, 2023.

The county is in the first year of what had been a two-year contract with WEA Trust, so officials are scrambling to find a new carrier, County Administrator Erik Pritzl told the Oconto County Board on June 23.

“It wasn’t like this was being signalled before that or broadcast; we all kind of learned about it at the same time, and it was a surprise,” Pritzl said.

Human Resources Coordinator Shelly Schultz said county officials plan to meet the first week in July with several bidders for the service.

Pritzl said the insurance dilemma would have an impact on plans to draft a 2023 county budget, but the county board went ahead and approved its annual Budget Guidance Letter, which was mostly drafted by county officials and the board’s Administration Committee prior to the WEA Trust announcement.

“The goal is to adopt a 2023 budget with a minimal increase in tax rate and levy that complies with any state-imposed rate/levy limits as well as fund the essential services that the residents of Oconto County expect,” says the letter, which department heads are asked to reference while drafting their own budgets.

“Having a workforce available to provide public services, while confronting increasing operations costs balanced against limits on available funds will present a significant challenge in the preparation of the 2023 budget,” the letter notes. “It is imperative that all departments find ways to comply with these guidelines in order to arrive at a balanced budget.”

With inflation in the neighborhood of 8%, Pritzl said the committee settled on an across-the-board wage increase of 4%, along with step increases for eligible employees and merit pay for selected individuals, a total of about $1 million in higher costs.

“We brought forward a number of proposals, I first brought forward a 3% across-the-board increase; we were asked to come back with 5%, it’s presented here today at 4%,” Pritzl said. The sheriff’s deputies union already negotiated a 2.5% increase, and elected county officials were previously approved at 4.5%, he added.

The WEA Trust pullout has caused some uncertainty until new insurance premium figures are known, he said.

“Once we get those numbers back, we’ll be having that conversation with administration to see if there’s anything we need to do related to the health insurance costs,” Pritzl said.

The administrator said he will be asking department heads to leverage outside funding sources as much as possible, and the county explore debt refinancing options as it works to develop a balanced budget that also fits within state-imposed limits.