Boulder County selects 2027 health plan projected to add $3.6 million in costs

Boulder County commissioners selected a 2027 employee health and dental plan Sept. 15 in a 2-1 vote. The option is projected to increase county costs by $3.6 million and raise employees’ share of premiums by 1 percentage point, the meeting recording shows.

The selected plan, known as option one, was recommended by the Benefits Advisory Board. It includes higher out-of-pocket amounts and a change in how out-of-pocket maximums accumulate, while retaining previously approved changes such as adding Marathon clinics. The advisory board voted 12-10 in favor of the plan design and separately voted 12-10 for the employee cost-share increase.

County officials projected that an option with no new plan-design changes but the existing employee-employer cost share would increase county costs by about $4.5 million. An option with no plan-design changes and no increase in employee premium dollars was projected to increase costs by about $5.2 million. The figures are projections for the 2027 plan year, not final expenditures.

Officials said the selected structure is intended to balance the county’s health and dental fund without using its balance. The fund had an approximately $11.5 million balance at the end of 2025 and had been drawing down roughly $2 million to $3 million annually in recent years. The option was also estimated to be about $250,000 below the county’s initial General Fund modeling.

The afternoon work session also covered proposals intended to help meet the county’s $13.2 million ongoing-reduction target for the 2027 budget. Commissioners directed staff to advance the following proposals:

• Reclassify two vacant Assessor’s Office positions and eliminate another vacant position, for itemized estimated savings of about $87,000.
• Eliminate about $24,300 in outside leadership coaching for Clerk and Recorder managers.
• Eliminate a vacant Community Action Program manager position, estimated to save $154,000.
• Shift about $500,000 in jail medical-service costs from the General Fund to the Offender Management Fund. Staff said the change would not reduce jail medical services or staffing; it is a funding-source shift, not documented net countywide savings.
• Decommission two underused Fleet Services fuel sites, for about $25,000 in estimated ongoing savings.
• Reduce Sustainability Tax Fund spending by about $930,000 across EnergySmart, environmental education, climate and sustainability communications, resource conservation and Mobility for All.
• Eliminate county-sponsored on-site flu-shot clinics, estimated to save about $20,000 annually, while providing employees information about covered vaccination options elsewhere.