The Custer County Board of Supervisors met for a little over an hour on Tuesday morning.
A large portion of the meeting was spent hearing from Dustin Will of Benefit Management regarding the county’s health insurance options for 2027. The county is facing a substantial increase in renewal rates, which Will said is largely the result of higher than expected claims during the plan’s first year (About $993,000 in claims incurred compared to roughly $603,000 in premiums paid during the same reporting period).
Will said that while the numbers are difficult, that higher claims are an expected part of providing health coverage and are not an indication that the county made the wrong decision when it switched providers recently. Will also defended the county’s current benefits package, particularly its decision to buy down employee deductibles to $500. He said it’s a generous benefit that few employers continue to offer and that the coverage and additional health savings account plan have been appreciated.
Ultimately, Will’s recommendation was to renew with Medica and continue evaluating the plan annually. The supervisors are also waiting on a competing proposal through NACO before making a decision. No action was taken.
Troy Walz with Nebraska Extension came before the board seeking the appointment of Sarah Blakeman to the Extension board, which was approved.
In Board of Equalization discussions, a tax roll correction was made which resulted in a +/- change of less than $10 each of the last three years. A motor vehicle exemption for Custer Care at a loss of 14 cents was also approved.
Suellen Koepke with Healing Hearts and families presented some materials to the board ahead of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) being approved unanimously. She stated that there are some items in the works to begin working with Garfield County, who will be added into MOU language as needed.
A resolution to authorize the signing of the year end certification of Highway Superintendent Nick Olson was approved, as was the incentive payment ending December of 2026. The process certifies him with the NDOT while also allowing the payment from the state for doing so.
An application to cross right-of-way for Custer Public Power District nine miles outside of Broken Bow on Ryno was approved for underground line.
Adam Koinzan came before the board representing the desire of the Kilfoil Township to have road 432 reclassified due to higher traffic amounts and use by trucks. The road was stated to need raising as well due to flooding during the process of making it a gravel road instead of a minimum maintenance road. A proposal from the township identifying desires on surface, speed limit, and other items was requested so that everything could be done at once was requested, but support from the board was clear.
Tuesday’s meeting adjourned at 10:20 AM after no public comments were made.
