Health Insurance costs restrict options

MENASHA — Health insurance has become a thorny issue for municipalities as they plan their 2005 budgets.

In Menasha, WI the city has reduced staff during the past decade, but double-digit health insurance cost increases make personnel the most challenging part of the annual budget preparation.

The proposed $27.5 million city budget for 2005 unveiled recently by Mayor Joe Laux includes no change in staffing but personnel costs still will increase by nearly $500,000.

“We require about $215,000 more for wages and salaries,” said Laux, while an 18.2 percent increase in health, dental and vision costs requires an additional $225,000. Laux says the latter figure “is equivalent to adding six new employees.”

“Overall it’s a good budget,” said Laux. “It does a lot. We’re struggling with a lot of things. Health insurance is probably the No. 1 driving factor in the cost of this budget. It’s really having an adverse impact on us.

“Something has to happen because we can’t keep going like this. We’ve cut staff (over the years). We’re at $13,000 a year right now for health insurance (premium cost) per family.”

Property taxpayers can expect to see a 19-cent increase in the assessed tax rate, which represents a 1.7 percent tax hike from $11.33 in 2004 to $11.52 in 2005.

The tax levy is slated to go up $453,239, or 6.1 percent, to $7.86 million.

After losing $310,000 in state shared revenues in the 2004 city budget, Menasha loses another $35,000 in 2005.

“Over the last two years we lost all that aid but because of the growth, we were able to hold ourselves in line,” he said.

Once again, Laux has not touched the $500,000 tax stabilization fund created several years ago.

The budget does not include any funds for the proposed $6 million city garage concept endorsed recently by the council.

Among the new spending planned for 2005: $34,000 to add bike lanes on Racine Street and Valley Road when County P is resurfaced; $45,000 for planning and design of a new fire station (to relocate the city’s northside station farther east); $58,000 to construct 20-foot extensions to existing boat landings at Jefferson Park; $8,500 for a facilities study on the Jefferson Park swimming pool; $6,000 for initial development costs for a dog park; $15,750 for signal/intersection upgrades at Appleton Road/Airport Road and Manitowoc Road/Oneida Street; and $35,000 to upgrade piers in the city-owned marina with a composite plastic material.

Parks and Recreation Director Brian Tungate said the resurfacing of County P provides an opportunity to enhance development of a network of trails.

“We’re trying to do it in a logical way to get people from community to community,” he said.