County votes to change insurance policy

The pains of rising health insurance costs were evident as the Harvey County Board of Commissioners approved a spousal surcharge policy amidst several personnel manual changes.

During its regular Monday meeting, the group approved a surcharge for spouses of employees to be covered under the county health insurance if they are eligible for health insurance through their own employer, effective for employees hired after Jan. 1, 2010. Those whose spouses are not eligible for other employer coverage would not have to pay the surcharge.

Currently the county pays about 75 percent of the premium for all insurance policies — single, couple and family. The surcharge likely would be the difference between the single plan and the employee-plus-spouse plan.

Commissioners expressed concern about people who may have only sparse insurance coverage under their own employer in which it unfairly burdens couples where both people work.

Chairwoman Marge Roberson said its becoming more important for individuals to carefully analyze what plan works best — whether it’s using a health savings account or other forms of savings, possibly in lieu of a more expensive insurance plan. And she noted if an employee’s spouse isn’t electing for coverage through their employer, they can use the money they would be paying their own employer to offset the surcharge.

The changes also eliminate in lieu of payments for those hired after Jan. 1. The payments go to those who have coverage elsewhere but opt not to participate in the county plan. The county is looking to phase out in lieu of payments for all employees in the next few years, but a timetable has not been set.

Other personnel changes included putting in a writing a policy administrator Craig Simons said already is being utilized to allow salaried employees overtime at the regular rate of pay for pre-determined special projects requiring more than 44 hours of work a week.

In other business, the commission:

• Expressed intent to issue a 10-year, 100-percent tax abatement for the expansion of Park Aircraft Technologies Corp. at the Newton City/County Airport. The commission cannot formally grant the abatement until construction is complete. Other incentives previously offered to the company for its initial project at the airport also were extended to the expansion, including use of an airport hangar and airport conference facilities.

Park Aircraft manufactures composite materials and is planning an expansion to allow the facility to manufacture parts from the composite materials.

• Passed a resolution authorizing the sale of general obligation bonds to finance the purchase of the property across from the Courthouse for future parking and the Schaben Court road project, which will be funded through special assessments.

• Reviewed proposals and accepted the bid of Lindburg Vogel Pierce Faris of Hutchinson for the 2009, 2010 and 2011 Harvey County audits. The firm’s bid was the lowest of three received.