COLUMBIANA - City department heads and non-union employees will start paying a portion of their health care costs starting in October, with employees under union contracts expected to follow suit when those contracts expire.
City Council voted 5-1 Tuesday to approve a plan proposed by Council member Bob Bieshelt to require non-union employees of the city to pay 20 percent of their health care plan premiums, a $30 co-pay for prescriptions and doctors' office visits and a $75 co-pay for emergency room visits. All current deductibles also will apply.
Bieshelt noted the city has given time in open meetings to health insurance consultants in regard to revising the city's plan for funding health care, but he noted council has not taken action since hearing those consultants.
Consultants came before council during meetings in March and April.
"I don't think there's any employers in our city that would offer any better than what we're proposing," he commented.
Finance Director Kevin Smith estimated the 20 percent in premiums would equate to about $260 per month for employees with family plans and $120 per month for those with individual plans.
Council President Lowell Schloneger questioned what would happen to union employees if their contract negotiations go to arbitration, as they so often do. Bieshelt responded, saying the fact-finder would take note of council's stance as expressed in the legislation.
"He would say, 'Gee, that's something to consider.' But now it's not being considered at all," Bieshelt said.
He also supposed union employees would not agree to a concession that department heads had not already taken.
Bieshelt also speculated the new co-pay plan will cause employees to weigh their options more heavily over whether they really need to visit a doctor's office, cutting down on office visits and saving the city money.
Municipal Attorney Dan Blasdell strongly urged council to meet in executive session with the attorney who handles union negotiations before taking action. Bieshelt, however, noted negotiations are not currently under way and obstacles seem to arise when council hesitates on taking action.
"Lawyers are great at telling us why we can't do what we need to do," he added.
Pat Keylor, the one council member voting against Bieshelt's motion, said she voted against
it because she would have liked more time to think about it.
"I think we should have worked on the details just a bit more," she explained her vote.
Schloneger and Council member Tom Ferguson also requested more time to think but voted for the measure during roll call.
Prior to the vote, council failed to address when the new stipulations to health insurance would take place. Bieshelt said he would be satisfied if they were in place for the first management payment in October.
EMS Chief Tom Farley requested council postpone the changes until Dec. 31, noting the holiday season is approaching, and many families have based their household budgets on the current plan.
However, Bieshelt held to the October deadline, saying management must be paying the new rates before the passage of any new union contracts.
The police union's contract expires at the end of December. The union covering other city employees received a new three-year contract at the end of 2009.
