Board approves increase in insurance premiums

June 21, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

Canfield

School board members approved a 5 percent increase in medical-insurance premiums for the upcoming school year.

They approved the increase during Wednesday’s meeting where four of the five board members were present.

Three voted yes with board President Adrianne Sturm abstaining because she purchases the district’s insurance.

Sturm said it’s standard for premiums to increase each year, and a 5 percent increase is fairly low.

“These premiums go up every year, and they’re usually in the double digits,” she said. “We’re lucky it’s not higher than 5 percent.”

Superintendent Dante Zambrini said the district is able to keep the increase at 5 percent instead of 12 percent or 15 percent because the district is a part of the Mahoning County School Employee Insurance Consortium and uses “best practices.”

Zambrini said this means the district abides by certain rules such as not allowing the spouse of an employees to join Canfield’s insurance if he or she is able to obtain insurance through his or her own employer.

During the 2012-13 school year, the premium for a single employee’s medical insurance will be $374.11; an employee plus spouse will be $785.60; an employee plus child or children will be $635.97; and a family will be $1,047.48.

Zambrini said that every employee in the district has the option to buy into the insurance plan.

Employees will pay 9 percent of the total premium during the 2012-13 school year and 10 percent in 2013-14, he said.

“It’s a standard that everyone knows,” he said. “Insurance premiums rise, and everyone needs to pay in.”

Zambrini said the current union contracts expire in 2014, and co-pay percentages will be renegotiated.

“We will likely try to negotiate further increases,” he said.