Health insurance at issue in Endicott

By DENA PAULING

Press & Sun-Bulletin



ENDICOTT ? Days before two new village officials take office, Endicott trustees will decide whether they should eliminate their health insurance in 2007.



The resolution would affect part-time elected officials and would save $12,000 annually per person, said Trustee Joseph Conte, who came up with the proposal.



"I don't think we should have it when we don't give it to the part-time employees and we work less," said Conte, who expected the majority would vote Tuesday in favor of eliminating the health insurance. "I don't consider myself a privileged person."



Conte's resolution was first mentioned during the trustees' Dec. 12 meeting, but trustees Betty Havel and Matt Pasquale quickly said they did not want to vote until it was discussed further.



Havel, who was re-elected to another term in November, will be affected by the resolution. Pasquale, who has one year left in his two-year term, will only be affected if he is re-elected to another term.



Trustees were each paid about $4,500 under the 2004-05 village budget.



All trustees and the mayor are eligible for the insurance, though some may choose not to take it because they are already enrolled in another plan or don't agree with it. Conte and Mayor Joan Hickey Pulse said they did not take the insurance when they took office.



Some villages have already eliminated such health insurance plans for elected officials. Johnson City, for example, took a similar action in 1992, shortly after Mayor Harry Lewis took office, village Clerk-Treasurer Tom Augostini said.



"It was more about principle," he said, referring to the board's decision 13 years ago. "They are considered part-time employees ? why are we offering them health insurance?"



There was a time, he said, when health insurance was cheap and did not burden local governments' and patients' budgets like it does today.



"Health insurance is just exploding way beyond the cost of living," he said.