Hill County Commission Approves Absorbing Health Insurance Increase – Hi-Line Today – Hi-Line Today

HAVRE, Mont. (NMB) – The Hill County Commission convened on Thursday morning for their weekly business meeting and voted 2-1 to have the County absorb the 6.5 percent premium cost increase of health insurance from the Montana Association of Counties (MACo) for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1st.

Commissioners Mark Peterson and Jake Strissel voted in favor, while Chair Diane McLean provided the dissenting vote.

The County contribution per employee will increase from $1,325 a month to $1,411. Clerk and Recorder Sue Armstrong says the increase totals $89,784, and can be funded mostly through the permissive levy. Based on last year’s taxable value, taxpayers will see an increase of  about $2.85 next year for a home valuated at $100,000.*

The motion that was approved essentially mirrored the County Insurance Committee’s Recommendations recommendations. Armstrong says it applies to full-time employees and Part Time employees that work over 20 hours per week.

The motion that was approved also allows “county employees to utilize the remaining hill county insurance contribution monies from medical premiums for,” vision, dental, and HSA (only for certain employees).

Peterson suggested seeing if they can narrow insurance plan options in the future, and Insurance Committee member Kim Berg said it would help if they could see and review specific claim information.

“If there isn’t much usage, why do we have the plan? So we may be reviewing them and may or may not make changes,” said Peterson.

Peterson urged County employees to speak with MACo representatives when they visit later this spring to ensure they choose the plan that best fits them.

This comes after the Commission tabled the issue at their business meeting last week following a heated discussion.

Around 30 county employees attended the standing-room only meeting and had to wait until the end of the meeting to see the agenda item discussed. Last week, the insurance issue was the first item discussed despite it being on the tail end of the agenda, with the Commission saying at the time that they wanted to address the most pertinent issue first.

In fact, County Planner Amy Ferguson said she told a person seeking a subdivision approval to not come in until well after the meeting started, as she believed insurance would be the first topic.

*The actual amount taxpayers will be faced with will be based on next years taxable value, so the figure may change a bit

Health Insurance Costs

During the meeting, Commissioner Mark Peterson stated that the County just approved a claim from MACo for about $142,300 to cover health insurance for the county for one month.

“Hill County pays more to employee and their family insurance than any county using the MACo healthcare system. We signed a claim today for $142,336.05. That’s one month of employee insurance.”

“But that’s not accurate, Mark. Cause you’ve got…” Armstrong interjected before being interrupted.

“Let’s let Mr. Peterson finish,” exclaimed McLean. “If you have something to add, raise your hand and you will be acknowledged.”

“The claim was signed today,” Peterson continued. “We have a lot of, not just the Hill County, we have (Unified Disposal Board) that also uses it, the Park uses it. So it’s just a dollar amount that the County pays for health insurance. If we increase the $1,325 to the $1,411, that will be $16,932 a year to each and every employee that we pay, and that equates to $8.14 an hour. These are just statements that I’m making so that it’s clear what I feel I am intending to do.”

Several employees stated that that figure presented was misleading, as it includes other costs, such as employee contributions to insurance.

“So you’re saying we pay the most towards health premiums. Where is our pay schedule compared to other counties? Where is our wages?” remarked one employee.

Peterson said that as of a few years ago, when you combine wages and insurance, Hill County was in the upper half of counties in the state.

When given time to expand on her interjection, Armstrong said the following

That ($142,336.05) is a premium for everyone in Hill County. So that includes UDB, Cemetery, any grants. So that’s not all County money. You have to take out other money.

A figure showing the amount of County funds that are used monthly for health insurance was not presented at the meeting.

Dissenting Vote

McLean offered several reasons why she was not for the motion, without explicitly saying it was why she voted against it.

One reason was she said the taxpayers weren’t having their voices heard. She complained that the meeting time, which was set by the Commission, was “problematic” because many people work on Thursday mornings.

“A portion of our employees are here, and a portion of our employees are not here. And maybe if it were held at a time that was not during business hours, more of those people could weigh in, as well as the people out there in the public that are going to be picking up this extra cost if this motion passes. Your taxpayer, your business person, lots and lots of people are not able to have a say or express an interest in it. And maybe it was not a good timing on our part. We might need to take a look at that.”

McLean said she would have preferred a compromise, and pondered the possibility of offering employees a set amount for insurance and having them shop around, although she said it may not be legal.

“Is it a possibility? I don’t know.”

Another reason given by McLean was that absorbing costs of increased health insurance does not address the root of the issue many County employees have expressed for a while, which is insufficient wages.

“Commissioner Peterson asked you last time that you were here, if we should go to the voters and ask that they would approve a levee to increase county wages. Because we seem to be dealing with something that is really not the root cause of the angst that everyone feels. We are not really dealing with the wage issue here. All we’re doing is pushing the only one thing that we can push. And it seems to me that this year’s insurance rate is all derived from last year’s insurance experience. And that includes the claims process for our county, that includes the medical costs in general, that includes all of those things that the actuaries look at when they say ‘this is how much that insurance costs this year.’ And it looks to me like, as we look at next year…we won’t see until next year what happened with this year. And I wonder what will that increase look like next year? Instead of 6.5 percent, could it be mirroring the 8 percent or the 10 percent that we’re seeing in our lives. So are we pushing on one side instead of asking on the other side? Maybe it is worth our time to go to our voters and say ‘our wages aren’t sustaining our people where they are.’ We are not addressing that. I’m just curious, but it seems to me like it would be difficult to say ‘I’m forcing this on you, but at the same time, I’m asking for this.’ You know what I mean? One side is being heavy handed and the other side is an ask. And is it worth going and seeing what do your people think about the wages that we pay? And is there a way to help that side of it? Because that’s the root cause here. That’s the issue that we don’t seem to be dealing with, in my opinion.”

The need to look at raising employee wages was seconded by several employees, including Shane Huston of the Road Department.

“The increases are not the Commission’s fault. It’s not the fault of the Commission that we’re seeing these increases. And this goes back years, it goes back to Commissioners that were in here long before you three. Prices are going up, folks. Like I pointed out to you the other day, Mark, you know as a farmer, Jake, you know as a farmer, what you could fix your tractor for 10 years ago is not what you can fix a tractor for now. Look at the Road Department’s budgets when it comes to equipment. That’s something (Department Supervisor Jim) Bedwell is extremely worried about. This guy is working on stuff day in and day out, and it costs more money. But the fact of the matter is I agree every time I hear the comment that – ‘where’s the money going to come from?’ – I get frustrated. Because quite frankly, if that’s an issue sitting here for this Commission today, whether it got handed to you or not, I think you at least have to ask the question of the people that voted you into this position … So I do like that line of thinking. I don’t want to pay more taxes. Nobody does. But you know what, you also have to ask yourself what services you want.”

Other action taken at the meeting:

Unanimous approval of an amended plat. The request came from Randy Anderson, who is splitting a 12.91 acre lot into nine lots to create a major subdivision. The location is west of Havre and just south of US 2, between 70th and 73rd Avenues.Unanimous approval of a minor subdivision change requested by Clint SolomonThe unanimous approval of a notice of intend to annex land into Herd District No. 12. A public hearing on this proposal will take place at 9 AM on Wednesday, April 27th in the Commission’s office.Updating the County’s travel policy to clarify that employees with the Extension Office are able to use County vehicles for work trips.