Balancing the budget? Barnstable Assembly urges end to county boards' insurance benefit
BARNSTABLE — The Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates passed a nonbinding resolution Wednesday that asks the Board of Regional Commissioners to remove the eligibility of both boards to participate in the county group insurance plans.
An initial attempt to postpone the decision failed and the resolution passed on a vote of approximately 59% to 32% with 8.8% absent based on the town-weighted voting system.
The assembly has discussed the subject several times over the years. In the most recent meeting on Dec. 6, the assembly learned from its attorney that it could not act on health insurance under state law. The delegates then voted unanimously to indefinitely postpone decisions on an ordinance that proposed salary increases and removing health benefits for its members and the commissioners.
However, Chatham Delegate Randi Potash and Brewster Delegate Mary Chaffee introduced the new resolution at that meeting that was voted on Wednesday. The arguments proposed in the resolution said that assembly delegates and board commissioners do not regularly provide services for 20 hours or more per week as required by other county employees. The resolution also stated the current projected cost of the insurance to the county in fiscal year 2025 would be $561,507 if all eligible members of the assembly and commissioners participated in the group plan.
An attempt to reduce the Assembly of Delegates budget
The total actual cost of the health insurance for five or six assembly delegates and one commissioner is about $170,000, or about $31,000 per person. One of the arguments for the removing the insurance coverage was to reduce the assembly budget.
Delegate Brian O’Malley of Provincetown, who opposed the new resolution, said, “I don’t feel balancing the budget should come from us.” He said he is a long-term advocate of universal health insurance, but also wants to replace the benefits with a more realistic salary. Several other members who wanted to postpone the new resolution also wanted to discuss the insurance and salary issues with the board of commissioners before taking any action.
Proposed salary increases
The proposed salaries in the original ordinance were $5,000 annually for each delegate plus an additional $2,000 for the speaker and $1,000 more for the deputy speaker. The assembly salaries have been $1,000 a year since 1992. The three regional board member salaries proposed were $15,000, a $1,000 increase, and an additional $2,000 for the board chair.
The delegates debated Wednesday both sides of whether the insurance coverage was an incentive to get new delegates to run for the office. Eastham Delegate J. Terence Gallagher, who moved the postponement, has been receiving the insurance benefit. He said health insurance is a sought-after benefit and dropping it “would exclude me.” He noted that the county “does not provide the insurance, it just allows a more affordable rate.”
Gallagher and others said they work considerably more than 20 hours even though they don’t punch a time clock.
Chaffee spoke on behalf of her resolution, saying that if the insurance benefit is removed, there are many other options in the state, such as MassHealth, that provide coverage.
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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Assembly seeks end to county boards' health insurance benefit
