Sanitary District looks at reducing employee benefit costs

By Tracy Ouellette

Staff Writer

The Town of Waterford Sanitary District commissioners met in special session July 25 to discuss how they might reduce employee benefit costs, which some people have called excessive.

In an unusual move, Board President Bill Gerard turned the gavel and chair over to Commissioner Donna Block and asked her to run the meeting because he said he hadn’t approved the agenda before hand and hadn’t even read it before the meeting.

The board in general agreed that the cost of the employee health insurance and retirement benefit contributions were more than they should be and ways to reduce those costs should be researched.

“This should have been looked at years ago – many years ago. And every year since,” said Gerard.

According to Commissioner Donna Block, who has been researching what neighboring communities pay in employee benefits, the average retirement fund contribution falls is about 5.5 to 6 percent of the employee’s annual salary.

But WSD contributes much higher percentages into the three employee retirement funds – 41 percent in the case of Office Administrator Debbie Nelson ($22,000), 26 percent ($16,500) for Operations Superintendent Norm Nelson and 37 percent ($16,500) for Operations Assistant Jerry Ignatowski.

Should WSD in line with the state norm of about 6 percent, total contributions (if annual salaries remain consistent) would drop from $60,500 a year to a little more than $9,500 a year, saving Sanitary District members more than $50,000 annually in just employee retirement benefits.

Commissioner Jeff Santaga said the contribution amount needed to be brought in line with the state norm and that the only real question is if the board reduces the retirement fund contribution in a single year or steps it down over a couple of years.

“I think we are going to change things,” he said. “(It’s a matter of) how we are going to do it.”

“We need to weigh which fits us the best,” added Gerard.

Health care costs

On the matter of the employee health care coverage, the board again agreed they needed to look into ways to reduce the cost to the district, while still offering coverage consistent to the current benefits.

Block brought information from another insurance company for the board to compare prices and benefits. She said the biggest factor in the cost of health care for the district employees is fact that only two married employees are on the plan, which does not qualify WSD for group rates with their current carrier, United Health Care.

Santaga said they should look into a family plan because the two employees on the plan were married and also said some insurance plans offered by the state require only one person to be considered for group rates.

Santaga said both the private and public sectors shop around for better rates every other year or so.

“It’s the lay of the land,” he said. “We have to shop around.”

Gerard asked how long the current plan had been in place. Debbie Nelson told the board it had been changed when the Town of Waterford “broke off” from the Sanitary District when its employees were put on a state plan.

Town of Waterford Clerk Tina Mayer said July 31 that the town employees went on the state plan in 2007.

The board voted unanimously to do a study on the best options for the district and the employees with Block offering to help with further research.

Block said after the numbers have been crunched the board will meet with the individual employees in closed session. The state requires such a meeting to be held in closed session, she said.