Region One budget still missing health-care piece

FALLS VILLAGE — At its regular monthly meeting Monday, March 1, the Region One Board of Education reviewed a draft budget that calls for a 1.99-percent increase. But the cost of the Region One health insurance plan, a large part of the budget, was not yet determined.

Region One Business Manager Sam Herrick said that the current provider, Anthem, offered a renewal with an overall increase of about 14.9 percent, but that includes a 35.2-percent increase in premiums for those employees who have opted for the high deductible health plan (HDHP).

Herrick said that Region One had been successful in shifting employees to the lower cost high deductible health plan option. “The problem is that Anthem is not pricing to accomodate our strategy.�

Anthem pays out 49 cents per dollar collected in premiums on the HDHP plan, Herrick said. In the higher-cost Preferred Provider Organization coverage, Anthem pays out 86 cents per dollar collected — “enough to cover their administrative costs,� Herrick noted.

Board Chairman Judge Manning said, “So our claims go down, yet we get this increase.�

“Their point to us is that they underpriced the HDHP,� replied Herrick.

Herrick said he requested a best offer from Anthem by Wednesday, March 3, adding that Region One has some leverage. Two bids have been received with an increase of around 7 percent, and a third bid is expected.

After the final bids are in, Herrick will convene a meeting of the buying group and decide which company to recommend. Region One is in a group with 460 school and town employees. With dependants, the total enrollment is about 1,100 people.

“We may need to look seriously at making a switch,� Herrick said. “The threat [of changing providers] has worked in the past, but ...�

He said there is some risk involved in switching — terms of coverage might be different, and the list of participating doctors and organizations might not be the same.

As far as the current draft budget goes, however, Herrick said that it represented the worst-case scenario of accepting the current Anthem renewal.

Education elements of budget

The 1.99-percent increase is $281,435 over the current year’s spending plan; $229,059, or about 81 percent of the increase, is due to the rise in the  cost of health insurance premiums.

The Region One budget breaks down like this: Housatonic Valley Regional High School has a net increase of .78 percent, or $63,448, for a total of $8,147,887.

The Pupil Services net budget, which includes special education services, goes up 3.86 percent, or $199,651, for a total of $5,365,995.

And the Region One central office (RSSC) net budget is $910,069, which includes an increase of 2.06 percent, or $18,336.

The Region One bottom line, at a 1.99-percent increase, is $14,423,951.

Herrick gave the board a handout that detailed changes in the draft budget from Feb. 11 to March 1. The earlier version, at $15,031,540, represented an increase of 2.37 percent.

Pluses and minuses

Cuts made in the high school budget amounted to $26,309 and included $23,278 in adjustments for health insurance on teachers who will be replacing those who took advantage of an early retirement offer; postponement of the construction of a hammer throw cage for track and field ($5,000); and accounting software to be purchased from money in the current year’s budget ($5,114).

Some of these cuts were offset by additions, most notably $1,500 in bicycling equipment for a new physical education program for freshmen.

In Pupil Services, a paraprofessional position was eliminated ($22,000) and a health insurance adjustment yielded $4,541 for a total of $26, 541.

The board briefly considered accepting the draft budget and skipping another scheduled budget workshop, but since the health insurance figures may change they decided to stick with the schedule and meet Thursday, March 11, 4 p.m. (at the high school).

Let public have a first vote

At the end of the meeting, during the public comments portion and before the board went into executive session to discuss personnel contracts, Amy Wynn of Falls Village said she believed any possible savings in health insurance should go back into programs, rather than used to bring the bottom line down still lower, and she wondered why the board was setting a goal of a 2-percent increase at most.

“The community hasn’t had the chance to vote down the usual 3 percent,� she said.

The current budget, voted on at last year’s annual region-wide referendum, contained an increase of 1.94 percent as the region tightened its belt in response to concerns from member towns struggling to balance their own budgets in a recession.

Note: Housatonic Valley Regional High School principal Gretchen Foster said the Commission on Public Secondary Schools, part of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), voted to accept the school’s two-year progress report in January.

Foster provided the board with copies of a letter from NEASC Director Janet D. Allison reading, in part, “Citing significant progress in adressing identified concerns, the Commission removed the school from warning for the Standards for Accreditation on Curriculum and Instruction.�

A detailed story will appear in next week’s Lakeville Journal.