Boardman police levy on thin ice
A township committee will meet next week to vote on health insurance changes, and if the committee rejects the plan, a police levy likely will be taken off the May ballot.
The insurance committee vote “is to allow us to look at making the design-plan change. ... I will confirm that if we do not get the vote that allows us to do that, then the levy will probably not go forward,” said Trustees Chairman Thomas Costello.
The township insurance committee is made up of one representative from each of the township unions:
Ohio Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association for patrol, rank and dispatch.
International Association of Firefighters 1176.
Township Workers Association, which represents road-department employees.
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2498.
The committee also includes the township administrator, fiscal officer and a nonunion employee.
The design-plan change would allow more flexibility in getting bids for township employees’ health insurance, which currently has a zero-deductible policy.
The health-care insurance is “100 percent coverage, and that is unrealistic. That cannot be sustained ,and we knew that. That’s why we formed the health insurance committee,” said township Administrator Jason Loree.
“Our goal is to put a large deductible out and explain how that will only impact a small percentage of township employees but save a lot of money for the township. ...We have to change the plan. There’s not a question about it,” Loree said.
The township pays about $2.2 million annually on health-care coverage, and an anticipated 20 percent increase in health care costs would mean about $400,000 more coming out of the township’s coffers, he added.
In November, the committee rejected the change by a 5-4 vote. Another vote, taken about two weeks ago, rejected the agreement 3-6. Any agreement approved by the insurance committee is non-grievable.
Harry Wolfe, IAFF president, said he has heard trustees were considering taking the police levy off the ballot if the insurance committee did not approve changes.
“I think that’s an unfair labor practice,” Wolfe said. “They point the finger at the employees when they are out there actively negotiating. ...This is why we have collective bargaining in place, so your employer can’t threaten and intimidate you.”
Wolfe was on his way to Columbus to speak against Senate Bill 5, which would dismantle collective bargaining for all state workers. One of the provisions in SB 5 is taking away the ability for local workers to bargain for health insurance.
“This is a knee jerk reaction once again by the trustees, and they’re threatening employees who are still in the middle of negotiations,” Wolfe said.
The trustees have until March 1 to pass a resolution taking the 3.85-mill, five-year additional police levy off the May ballot. After that deadline, the township would incur some election costs, Costello said.
The vote has to be taken and official — not a whisper and a promise,” Costello said.
He continued: “It’s not that it’s unfair. It’s cold hard facts. How can I in a clear conscience ask [residents] to pay higher taxes when I can’t get an agreement from our own township employees that allows us to control the runaway costs of health care?”
Detective Sgt. Glen Riddle, co-director for the OPBA ranking union, said the unions are “having discussions with [the trustees], trying to find ways to save some money.”
Loree said at the last committee vote, unions still had concerns about exactly how much the change would cost them.
“What had happened was that [the unions] wanted to see exact numbers for the health-care plan. ...We decided to get those numbers for them before they make a decision,” Loree said.
The township is getting figures from Medical Mutual, United Healthcare, Anthem and Aetna, Costello said.
“We’ve been at Medical Mutual because of a unique plan design. With that design we currently have, nobody else will quote us,” he added.
The plan was offered by Medical Mutual years ago, but the company no longer offers that plan to new insurance purchasers, said Costello, who also works in the insurance industry as president of James and Sons Insurance. The company has no role in township employees’ insurance.
The township “was grandfathered in by Medical Mutual. With that being said, now that we’re hoping we’ll have the opportunity to look at plan-design changes, this has gotten other [insurance providers] saying ‘We’ll talk to you,’” Costello said.
“...We’re not asking people to make [healthcare plan] decisions tomorrow, we just want [the change] to be able to shop it out,” Costello said.
Loree said the township is providing options for deductibles ranging from $100 to $2,000 from those companies.
“We are gathering the different health care plans to show the additional savings by adopting one plan over another. ...We had a 20 percent increase last year, and we want to work down 20 percent to zero by changing the plan design,” Loree said.