The cost of employee benefits in 2024 for Bourbon County has come up frequently in recent discussions about the county budget. Generally, the number has been given at around $4,000,000 for about 100 employees.

In paperwork from the county, the actual amount budgeted for 2024 was $4,379,580, but the amount actually spent in 2024 was $3,942,848.

While those numbers are correct in the sense that they represent the amount that shows up on the accounting document, the roughly $4 million amount includes money that is deducted from the employee’s paycheck for various benefits. For example, if an employee’s family is being covered by county health insurance, the employee is responsible for a portion of those premiums, but the amount the employee reimburses still shows up as outflow under the Health line item.

In 2024, $1,490,497.44 was deposited into the employee benefits account as “Reimbursed Expenditure” from employee salary deductions, which covered employee contributions for benefits. These deductions include various types of insurance that the employee can choose to pay for, as well as money funding health savings accounts or flexible spending arrangements.

So to get a better idea of how much of the money being payed out in employee benefits is actually being paid by the county and not the employees, the amount that is being paid by employee payroll deductions needs to be subtracted from the amount flowing out of that account. The total employee benefit expenditures minus the amount reimbursed via payroll deductions come to $2,452,351.46.

With approximately 100 employees, this would bring the average spent per person on county employee benefits closer to the $24,000 range, rather than the $40,000 range, as it might appear at first glance.