County at crossroads on health insurance matters

Facing another increase to health insurance premiums and a less-than-rosy financial situation overall, Putnam County officials have some hard decisions to make in the coming weeks.

With the plan year set to expire at the end of July, the county has received word from Anthem that the monthly rate is set to increase by about 4.9 percent, an estimated $10,365 more a month than the $207,000 the county currently pays monthly.

As of Tuesday, Anthem had not presented an exact amount to either the county or local agency Brackney Insurance of Keystone Group.

Presenting the information to the Putnam County Council Tuesday evening, County Commissioner Rick Woodall was trying to brainstorm ways to help pay for the increase.

In the past, county officials have done all they could to insulate county employees from footing any more of the bill. Having worked with Auditor’s Office employees and looking back at records, Woodall believes it has been 10 years since the employee contribution was increased.

Unfortunately, other methods of funding the increases may be running low.

For example, the county’s Health Insurance Trust still has about $1 million in the account, but the county must keep around $700,000-$800,000 in the account.

Additionally, when the county goes beyond its stop-loss limit because of large claims, the Health Insurance Trust is used to make these payments. For example, last year the county ended up owning $159,000 extra, as opposed to prior years when it actually got a refund.

One method for trying to reduce what the county pays is encouraging more economical medical solutions for employees. For example, several years ago the county worked with its insurance provider to raise the deductible on emergency room visits, as these are very expensive claims, and employees were using the ER for routine matters.

The county may raise the ER deductible again, as well as giving further encouragement for employees to utilize the Proactive Clinic, which the county pays $10,000 a month for employees to utilize — another charge to the Health Insurance Trust.

Despite all this, the possibility of having to raise employee contributions — either this year or next — is very real.

“Do we ride it out another year and get closer to the bubble?” Woodall said.

Councilman Danny Wallace said employees should at least be notified of the possibility.

“At least give them something to prepare for,” Wallace said.

Woodall emphasized that the possibility of raising the employee contribution is not something he or other officials take lightly.

“There are so many factors – this isn’t county business, this is a person living life,” Woodall said. “They’re already paying $5 a gallon for fuel, they’re paying more for food. Can we eat it another year?”

Council President Dave Fuhrman noted that while there is a possibility of eating it this year, should a recession hit, the county’s financial situation will be vastly different in a year.

Wodall also let the Council know that Keystone is looking into the county becoming self-funded on its health insurance starting in August 2023.

It’s unclear if this is a viable option for Putnam County, but having a year to examine the matter should help.

In one piece of insurance-related good news, after having trouble with previous vendor MetLife, the county is switching to Guardian as provider.

The move will double employee life insurance policies from $10,000 to $20,000 while actually saving the county four percent on the overall cost.

In other business:

• Contrary to reporting in the Banner Graphic last week, no decisions were made on a new Council president or on funding for Putnam County roads.

On the president matter, Fuhrman had announced during the May meeting he intended to step down from the presidency after his defeat in the primary election. However, his fellow Council members inspired a change of heart, with a majority of them contacting Fuhrman individually, asking him to continue as president for the rest of the year.

“I appreciate their vote of confidence,” Fuhrman said.

Additionally, the matter of road funding will be considered in July, as appropriations have to be advertised a sufficient amount of time before they can go before the council.

County Engineer Jim Peck intends to request $900,000 from the Motor Vehicle Highway Fund and another $900,000 from the Motor Vehicle Highway Restricted Fund to complete this year’s paving projects. The MVH funds are in the highway budget, meaning the request would involve simply moving money between department funds.

• After extensive discussion, proposed personnel restructuring in both the Clerk’s Office and Highway Department will have to wait.

Clerk Heather Gilbert expressed her desire to not fill a position in which she recently terminated an employee. Instead, she wanted to have her deputies absorb the work and to compensate them appropriately.

However, she did not wish to get rid of the position permanently, as a new clerk will be coming in Jan. 1. She also cited this as a reason not to fill the position, as she did not want to hire someone who may be out of a job in six months, should the new clerk choose to go a different direction.

The Highway Department, on the other hand, is in the midst of restructuring since Peck took over this spring. He is proposing to eliminate the bridge foreman position, which is currently empty, promote Clint Maddox from his road foreman position to the newly-created position of highway director and to put a new person in the shop foreman position when the current foreman retires July 1.

In addition, these positions as well as the two administrative positions would see a pay increase.

In both cases, the Council requested more clarification on the plans, as members did not like the precedents set by either, particularly the raises, whether temporary or permanent, for office workers when similar positions in the county are not getting the same increases.

The terms “Pandora’s Box” was thrown around a number of times.

Additionally, the department heads were told several times to “wait until budget time,” the message seeming to be that they could not make adjustments to their 2022 staffing situations because planning for 2023 is coming soon.

None of the proposals actually required additional appropriations, simply reallocations of budgeted funds.

The matters are likely to be revisited in July.

• The Council approved a number of additional appropriations for Putnam County EMS.

Most notable among these was an additional $50,000 for fuel, in what is certain to become a common request from departments as the year goes on and fuel prices remain high.

Additionally, EMS was given another $36,000 for medical supplies, as costs have risen and some of the supplies are having to be purchased from different providers, which charge more.

EMS is also taking $35,000 from an old Operation Life fund for remodeling EMS headquarters on Bloomington Street.

While some remodeling was already under way, a recent issue with a plugged main wastewater line had sewage coming back up through all drain pipes in the building.

Wallace also asked about the $50,000 that remains in the Operation Life checking account, as OL ceased to be an ambulance service on Dec. 31, 2019 but has continued as a business entity to this day.

“We said two years,” Woodall said. “It’s been over two years.”

“I think it’s time,” Wallace said.

“Well, we’re both on the board,” Woodall said, apparently suggesting action be taken by the Operation Life board to dissolve.

• 911 Director Dave Costin was given permission to purchase a backup battery for $76,750.

Costin said in the event of a power outage, the battery keeps power on at the Emergency Operations Center until the generator fires. While this should normally be just a few seconds, the battery has the ability to run the center for two hours.

“If my generator doesn’t fire, it gives me time to figure out the problem,” Costin said.

Were power in the EOC to go all the way down, the county would not only be without dispatch in what is likely an emergency situation, but starting all the systems back up is a time-consuming process.

Costin said the price continues to jump, but if they order now, the price is locked in, even though they won’t take delivery for another six months.

The current battery, installed in 2007, is nearing the end of life.

• Finally, the Council took formal action on raising the county mileage rate to 50 cents a mile. It had previously approved the increase in principle, but it was formally approved Tuesday.

Fuhrman and Wallace were joined at the meeting by fellow members Jay Alcorn, Keith Berry, Stephanie Campbell and Larry Parker. Phil Gick was absent.

Also in attendance were Auditor Kristina Berish, County Council Attorney Trudy Selvia and Commissioners Woodall and Tom Helmer.

The next meeting of the Putnam County Council is set for Tuesday, July 19 at 6:30 p.m. on the first floor of the Putnam County Courthouse.