No increase in health premiums

For the second year in a row, school system employees who participate in the group health insurance program will not see an increase in their share of the premiums.
Despite rising costs, board members last week voted to fund the entire $852,927 hike in expenses with a surplus that has built up in recent years.
Ironically, the decision was approved with only four of the board’s 10 members voting.
Burton Dupuis, Aaron Flegeance, Russel Foti, Floyd Knott and Frederic Stelly all derive benefits from the plan as retirees or family members of current employees.
Richard Potier opted to abstain from the vote.
In choosing to have the system absorb the entire cost of the increase, board members Steve Fuselier, Wanda B. Vital, Jimmy Blanchard and Mark Hebert rejected the recommendation of staff and the plan consultants to fund the increase through a 1.5 percent hike in both the employee and board share of the premiums.
This would have provided an increase of $128,722 from the board’s share and $77,388 from employee contributions and required $646,767 from the health fund balance.
In supporting Option 2, CFO Casey Broussard cautioned board members that employees may face a sharper increase in a future year as health costs continue to rise.
Under the present plan, which will continue through June 30, 2018, employee-only coverage will cost a worker $203 per month. An over-65 retiree will continue to pay $142 per month.
The board’s contribution is $511 per month in all cases.
The projected cost of the board’s health insurance plan for the coming fiscal year is $14.4 million, a 4.4 percent increase. Premiums paid by employees and the board will amount to $13.5 million, leaving about $853,000 to be taken from the health fund balance that was $3,356,424 as of June 30, 2016.

Salary Schedule
In another employee-benefit matter, Superintendent Dr. Lottie Beebe reported that the task force formed to study employee salary schedules is still meeting but is not nearly ready to make any recommendations.
“It’s a very complex issue,” she told board members, “and not something that can be solved overnight.”