COLUMBIA COUNTY
HUMAN RESOURCES and PAYROLL
Columbia County Human Resources and Payroll
401 State Street
Hudson, NY 12534
Phone: 518-828-4086
Fax: 518-828-1991
ANNOUNCEMENTS
FSA OPEN ENROLLMENT is NOW!
Dear Columbia County Employee,
It is open enrollment time for the optional HEALTH EQUITY FLEXIBLE SPENDING ACCOUNT (FSA)
Even if you have participated previously in this program, you must re-enroll by filling out the attached 2025 FSA Enrollment Form with the necessary information and return it to the HR Office NO LATER THAN NOVEMBER 25, 2024. IF YOU ARE ROLLING OVER FUNDS FROM THE PREVIOUS YEAR (maximum rollover is $660), please indicate this on your form.
***ALL EMPLOYEES MUST RETURN a 2025 FSA Enrollment Form WHETHER OR NOT YOU PARTICPATE IN THIS PROGRAM. ALL FORMS ARE DUE TO THE HR OFFICE BY NOVEMBER 25, 2024.*** (If you are NOT participating, just please print your name at the top of the form, sign the bottom and check the box indicating you are not participating in the program).
Forms can be returned via email (shari.franks@columbiacountyny.com), interoffice mail or faxed to HR at 401 State Street. Fax number 518-828-1991. An online fillable form is attached below which can be filled out online and emailed or downloaded, filled out and returned to us.
WHAT IF I HAVE A BALANCE IN MY ACCOUNT FROM 2024?
If you have money left in your 2024 account, you can choose to rollover up to $640 for 2025 OR you can spend the balance at the FSA store or on approved medical expenses/supplies (you have until March 31, 2025 to use these funds).
HOW MUCH GETS DEDUCTED FROM MY PAYCHECK?
The minimum amount that can be deducted annually is $260 or $10 per paycheck. The maximum amount for the Healthcare FSA is $3300 or $126.93 per paycheck and for Dependent Care FSA, the maximum amount is $5000 or $192.31 per paycheck.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS TO HAVING AN FSA?
If you are new to the program or interested in finding out about the benefits of an FSA account, please see attached flyer. Here are some highlights to the program:
You can use tax-free money to pay for eligible medical, dental, pharmacy and vision expenses.
You can pay for your spouse and dependents too.
FSA paycheck deductions are tax-free, which helps reduce your taxable income.
The Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account (DCFSA) can be used for Daycare, Nursery School, Babysitter, Preschool, Summer Day Camp, Before/After-school Programs and Elder Daycare.
New York State Retirement Online! Be sure to sign up now if you haven't already for easy access to your benefit information and tools to manage your account.
register-for-retirement-online.pdf
HealthEquity has become aware of criminal efforts to lure members to fake websites impersonating HealthEquity. The fraudsters aim to capture unsuspecting members’ login credentials and use them to access accounts on the real HealthEquity website (www.healthequity.com). We believe that only one of Columbia County’s employees fell victim to this scam.
HealthEquity systems have not been compromised. We are actively monitoring for and securing impacted accounts and are working with relevant authorities to remove fraudulent websites from the internet.
We are reaching out to any impacted individuals to assist them in securing their accounts, and will be providing proactive education to help account holders stay vigilant and avoid scams. If one of your employees believes their account has been compromised, please instruct them to take the following steps:
1. Contact HealthEquity Member Services at 866.346.5800
2. Reference the fraudulent fake website/domain.
3. Provide their name.
4. Review their recent transaction history with the Member Services representative.
5. Reset their username and password with Member Services assistance.
6. Remain diligent when monitoring their account activity to ensure all transactions and changes (e.g., to current bank account and contact information) are accurate.
To help mitigate the risk of fraud, individuals should always avoid clicking on suspicious links within emails and search engines, and should only log into their account through the HealthEquity website or mobile app.
2024 CDPHP MAIL ORDER PHARMACY CHANGE
CDPHP has chosen to not use Walmart Mail Order Pharmacy for their mail order prescription pharmacy in 2024. You may continue to use the local Walmart in-store pharmacies. Their new pharmacy for mail order will be Optum Home Delivery.
-Now is a great time to review the "Rx For Less" to see if you can fill your prescription, for as low as a penny a pill, at a local pharmacy. You can get up to a 90 day supply locally for any of the medications on the list. The list is attached to this email. CVS pharmacies do not participate in this program.
-If you are using Walmart Mail Order Pharmacy, please call the pharmacy phone number on the back of your CDPHP ID card, 1-888-292-6330, to have your prescriptions set up with Optum Home Delivery. Have a list of the prescriptions you would like filled using mail order, the name of the doctor who prescribed them, the doctor's location and have your spouse handy if they have prescriptions to transfer as well. Optum will be reaching out to your doctors for new prescriptions. Optum will email you to let you know they requested the prescriptions, email you again when the doctor has sent your prescription to them and then email you when they send it out to you.
Optum Home Delivery has AUTOMATIC DELIVERY!!!
After everything is set up and you receive your first fill with Optum Home Delivery, call the pharmacy number on the back of your CDPHP ID card, 1-888-292-6330, and set up automatic delivery.
If you have any questions please email me or reach out to our office (518) 828-4086.
NYS ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF STATEWIDE WORKPLACE SEXUAL HARASSMENT HOTLINE
Earlier this year Governor Hochul signed into law that a toll-free confidential hotline will be created for complaints of workplace sexual harassment. In addition to reporting incidents to your Department Head and/or Human Resources employees may use the confidential hotline established by NYS. As of today, the toll-free confidential hotline is in operation and details are provided in the attachment.
We will revise the language in the County's Anti-Discrimination and Harassment Poilcy to be in accordance with the new laws, and all County employees will be trained on the udpates during our next training cycle of 2022.
Workplace Sexual Harassment Hotline Notification.pdfColumbia County Participates in the NYS HELP Program starting June 26, 2023
On June 26, 2023, Columbia County's resolution request to participate in the Hiring Emergency Limited Placement (HELP) Program was approved by NYS Civil Service. This 12 month program will allow departments to hire qualified candidates without taking a Civil Service exam in approved titles.
Titles must meet the following criteria:
Criteria 1: Titles are deemed to be critical, direct care, health and safety titles. Employees serving in these titles provide services or care directly to clients, consumers, patients, or the public.
Criteria 2: A severe shortage of candidates exists, evidenced by an inability to attract sufficient qualified candidates to fill vacancies despite extensive and exhaustive recruitment efforts.
Criteria 3: Titles are filled via open-competitive examination only.
The ultimate goal is to attract qualified candidates and speed up the hiring process for those approved titles.
Columbia County will be requesting to add additional titles to the HELP Program in the coming months as all requests must be made by December 31, 2023.
For a complete list of titles, go to https://www.columbiacountyny.com/cs-news--announcements.html
All questions should be directed to the Columbia County Civil Service office 518-828-6622
Do you know about the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program?
To qualify for PSLF, you must:
be employed by a U.S. federal, state, local, or tribal government or not-for-profit organization (federal service includes U.S. military service);
work full-time for that agency or organization;
have Direct Loans (or consolidate other federal student loans into a Direct Loan);
repay your loans under an income-driven repayment plan*; and
To ensure you’re on the right track, you should submit a Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) & Temporary Expanded PSLF (TEPSLF) Certification & Application (PSLF Form) annually or when you change employers. They will use the information you provide on the form to let you know if you are making qualifying PSLF payments. This will help you determine if you’re on the right track as early as possible.
*This provision will be waived through October 31, 2022 as part of the limited PSLF waiver. Learn more.
For complete information on this program and to apply, go to https://studentaid.gov/manage-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/public-service#qualifying-employment