LIBERTY Contributions to health coverage are in the offing, officials say

Nonunion employees will contribute toward their health benefits.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
LIBERTY -- Township Trustee Patrick F. Durina says pay raises given some nonunion employees should have hinged on their contributing toward their health benefits.
"We pay absolutely nothing," Durina said of employee contributions to health benefits, noting trustees who receive the same benefits as employees don't contribute either.
Durina said he believes that nonunion members' not contributing to their health coverage will make it more difficult to persuade union members to accept copayments at the bargaining table.
Durina pointed specifically to contract talks that will open in December with the Teamsters, which represents road department workers and secretaries.
The raises granted ranged from 4 percent for Mary Louise Gardner, telecommunications officer, to 31 percent for June Smallwood, parks and special projects coordinator, and Martha Weirick, administrative assistant.
Durina said he was surprised to see the pay raises on last week's trustee meeting agenda because he hadn't discussed it with trustees Jack Simon and Gary Litch.
Durina said he voted for Weirick's pay raise only because she has been assigned added duties.
Trustees should have waited until the Ohio Auditor's Office concluded its performance audit the township requested, Durina said.
Other trustees' views
Litch asserted that Durina was at a February meeting where raises were discussed but that Durina left the meeting.
Trustee Jack Simon recalled that Durina made his position that the wage increase should be low and then left the meeting.
Litch asserted that if Durina wanted to discuss the raises, he could have asked for an executive session at last Monday's meeting.
Litch said he and Simon supported the raises because the employees had taken on addition work with the retirement of three workers.
The salaries of Smallwood and Weirick were brought into line with those of union secretaries, he added.
The savings with not replacing the three full-timers will be $100,000 in wages and benefits, Simon said.
Won't last
Simon explained that the township "has the Cadillac" of health plans and is glad Liberty has been able to provide it. That will change because the township's financial strength is weakening.
Employees have a $150 deductible and pay $2 for prescriptions.
Township Administrator Patrick J. Ungaro said "no one has a better deal" than the township's hospitalization plan.
But employees will be contributing, he added, noting that nonunion employees will begin contributing before the end of June.
Ungaro said he wants to deal with management first before bringing the issue up at the bargaining table with the Teamsters.
Litch said he would be willing to "take the first" step in contributing to the cost of his health benefits.
yovich@vindy.com