Small hike for health insurance (6/13/05)

A search for ways to limit increases in budget requests for next year has led Jay County Commissioners to health insurance.

The commissioners have agreed to grant a $4 per month increase for each county employee participating in the health insurance program, but are keeping the total amount requested steady at $520,000. The county currently pays $446 per month per employee on the insurance plan; that amount would increase to $450 per month in 2006.

Several employees do not participate in the health insurance plan, allowing the total amount to remain the same while increasing slightly the monthly amount allocated.

The commissioners, who are still finalizing budget requests, will request a total budget of about $2.1 million later this summer — up from the current year amount of about $1.9 million.

But unlike previous years, the increase won’t come primarily for health insurance.

“They’re going to have to contribute (more), too,” Commissioners’ president Milo Miller Jr. said of county employees. “The taxpayers are about taxed out. They’re lucky we’re paying $450 a month.”

In a related matter, Stephanie Arnold, fitness director/fundraising coordinator for the Jay Community Center, asked the commissioners if they would include $20,000 in their 2006 budget to support the Jay County Boys and Girls Clubs.

The county does not currently contribute to the Boys and Girls Clubs.

Commissioners Faron Parr and Miller made no commitment on the request. Commissioner Gary Theurer was not present at this morning’s session.

Arnold said the money would be used to add new programs for the clubs, which serve an average of 70 boys and 50 girls per session.

Possible programs that could be added, Arnold said, are boxing and summer tutoring.

“We feel ... we can make a positive influence on these kids,” Arnold said.

Arnold also discussed a new wellness program the community center is offering in partnership with Jay County Hospital and the West Jay Community Center.

The goal of the program is to promote health screenings and healthy lifestyles. Businesses which participate in the program would pay all or a portion of the cost, which would cover health screenings performed by the hospital and which would also include a fitness membership and other services from one of the respective community centers.

“This is really a preventative investment,” Arnold said.

Also this morning, Parr and Miller, acting as the county drainage board, approved replacing a large section of tile east of Dunkirk in hopes of alleviating a flooding problem around a group of houses along county road 1000 West.

The county will pay approximately $30,000 to replace 3,200 feet of the Coffin Tile, while 14 property owners in area, located along county road 1000 West south of county road 400 South in Richland Township, will pay a total of $10,000 for the project.

Several who own homes along county road 1000 West, including Dru and Selena Hall, have sought the commissioners’ help in solving the persistent flooding around their homes.

Dennis Rodgers, who owns and farms a large field to the west of the Hall’s home, worked to find an alternate solution after an engineer hired by the county had proposed a waterway across Rodgers’ field.

“We’re sure this is going to help everybody,” Rodgers said of the project, which will replace about 55.5 percent of the Coffin Tile, which is one of two that drain the area in the Baker-Bantz Watershed.

The watershed currently has a balance of about $17,000. Assessments bring in approximately $5,500 per year.

Muncie attorney John Brooke, speaking on behalf of the Halls, thanked the drainage board for its work, along with Jay County surveyor Brad Daniels and Rodgers.

“They’re hoping, just like everybody else, that it solves the problem,” Brooke said.[[In-content Ad]]