SHARON — Should every town employee receive a 3 percent raise in fiscal 2009-10? Should town employees pay for part of their health-insurance benefits?
Those were the questions the Board of Selectmen faced during their budget workshop on Wednesday, March 4, at Town Hall.
First Selectman Malcolm Brown presented the board with three budget options: A budget that gives everyone working for the town a 3 percent raise, another version that does not give any raises and a third version that gave 3 percent raises only to people directly employed by the town.
Brown said surrounding towns, including Salisbury and Cornwall, are planning to give their employees 3 percent raises.
Selectman John Mathews said he was concerned that town employees currently do not have to make contributions to their health-insurance plans, which the town covers fully.
“I’m just wondering if it’s time [the town] thinks about employees making contributions to insurance, or just freeze [salaries] this year,� Mathews said. “Either way, with the insurance going up so much, you are giving them a raise if you are giving them free insurance.�
Brown told Mathews that the town could not change the structure of the way employees receive health benefits without breaking away from the insurance group the town is in.
“Why can’t we?� Mathews asked. “The school employees all contribute to their insurance. They don’t contribute a huge percentage, but it’s a significant percentage. It certainly justifies us not giving raises this year with insurance rates going up.�
Selectman Tom Bartram said he was in favor of giving employees raises and requiring that they pay some of their health-insurance costs.
“It’s something I’ve been doing for 15 years,� Bartram said. “We’re one of the few towns left who [gives free health insurance].�
“It’s a hard sell to residents when people are losing their jobs and here [the town] is giving free benefits and a pay increase,� Mathews said.
According to Brown, the town’s health insurance carrier, Anthem-Blue Cross, has estimated a 27-percent rate increase to cover town employees. Sharon town employees are covered by the same policy as the Region One school district and the other regional towns.
“After some negotiations, we got it knocked down to 23 percent,� Brown said. “Then I found there were 17 insurance claims last year that were over $100,000 each. We’ll never know why all those claims were made because all [medical records] are confidential. A person made a comment to me that there were a lot of breast cancer cases this year, so I don’t know.�
The board did not make a firm decision on salary increases or any changes in insurance policies during the meeting.
However, the board unanimously voted against a 3-percent raise for themselves, leaving their salaries exactly the same as the previous fiscal year.
“This will make a statement,� Mathews said after the vote.
Brown said the budget has to be finalized by Tuesday, March 17. The town meeting vote on the budget is currently scheduled for Friday, April 24, at a time to be determined later.
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