By Robert Cicero
Special to NKyTribune
Last year the Boone County Fiscal Court’s administrative staff finally proposed a budget that included recommendations made by their own consultant for greater County employee participation in the cost of their health care.
The consultant was commissioned to prepare a healthcare study at the direction of the Fiscal Court in September 2014 and was to include marketplace benchmarks to determine the competitiveness of the Boone County healthcare plan. The Consultant determined that the plan was benefit rich and included a recommendation suggesting greater participation in the cost of the plan by plan participants.
Unfortunately, and against good management practices, the Boone County Fiscal Court rejected the staff’s and consultant’s recommendations and elected to strip the higher plan participant cost participation out of the 2016 budget and leave the levels unchanged. The basis for the Fiscal Court’s decision was that higher monthly premiums would place a financial hardship on the County’s workforce.
This year the Fiscal Court’s administrative staff has proposed a 2017 budget without any increase in employee cost participation citing good 2016 experience factors as the basis for keeping plan participation costs level.
The fallacy of the arguments used for both the 2016 Budget and the 2017 Budget Proposal is that they are contradictory.
In the 2016 Budget there was an increase in plan costs and the County’s paid consultant recommended implementing changes in sharing plan costs. But the Fiscal Court rejected the increase fearing financial pressures on County employees. In the 2017 budget proposal plan costs are projected to remain constant and the administrative staff is justifying no change in plan participant cost because the plan did not experience increased costs in the last fiscal year.
As financial stewards of the public’s funds the Fiscal Court will sooner or later have to acknowledge that plan costs are increasing. Fiscal Court members cannot simply continue to ignore the fact that the healthcare plan, which they participate in, is benefit rich, not market competitive as confirmed by their own consultant, and plan participants’ cost sharing will need to increase as well.
It is fiscally irresponsible for the Fiscal Court to continue to ignore a problem just because the County has the money to so.
Lastly, I would also like to point out that the Boone County Fiscal Court is hypocritical in the position it has taken by approving increases to certain market disadvantaged salary rates and justifying them on the basis that the increases are addressing noncompetitive salaries as determined by a salary market study. Yet the same Fiscal Court continues to ignore the results of a healthcare market study prepared by their own consultant that describes the plan as being benefit rich and needing greater cost participation by plan participants as part of the solution.
The Boone County Fiscal Court needs to address the inequities in their healthcare plan sooner than later and must stop spending taxpayer funds as if it was theirs to give away.
Robert Cicero is a Florence resident. He has a bachelor’s degree in accounting, a master’s in business administration, and has 20 years’ experience in various financial capacities with USS and its affiliates. He spent 10 years as the CFO of a local company and currently owns and operates a small business. He can be reached at bcicero@yahoo.com
Ahh Mr. Cicero, you are of course correct but you must remember that it is easy for Boone County Fiscal Court to remain conspicuously generous since they are using the money of the taxpayers.
Robert Cicero is the man who always attends the Boone County Fiscal Court meetings. He makes the sharpest comments and asks great questions of the Fiscal Court. The Judge Executive and County Commissioners would do well to follow his suggestions in this matter.
Why is it a race to the bottom for insurance and health care ! Mr Cicero ,instead of bitching about our hard working civil servants having affordable health care ,you should advocate for afforablity in health care for all! We used to have this.