Complaints prompt board to increase HRA payments

CLINTONVILLE – The Clintonville Board of Education approved giving employees of the Clintonville School District more funds in their health reimbursement accounts (HRA) after the board had received complaints from district employees about the district’s new health insurance plans that the board had approved at its April 27 meeting.
Increasing the contributions to employee HRA accounts was approved by the board at its May 11 meeting. The approval calls for increasing the HRA contribution to employees with a single health insurance plan by $250 to $1,500. Those with a family plan will have their HRA contribution increased by $500 to $3,000. Situations where both spouses in the family are employed by the district will see their HRA contribution increased by $2,000 to $6,000.
At the May 11 meeting, Clintonville Superintendent Troy Kuhn told the board that what the district previously approved regarding employee health insurance plans has become the “norm.”
“Luckily we have a plan, whether its good or bad, it’s out there for the teachers and the staff to decide,” Kuhn said.
Since the board approved the district’s health insurance plans for employees at its April 27 meeting, Kuhn said district employees have spoken to him with concerns about the new health insurance plans. He said some employees have asked about a cash in lieu option. Under this option, employees would be given cash to not enroll in the district’s health insurance.

Kuhn said the district has researched cash in lieu, but found that it would be costly to the district. Under cash in lieu, the district would have to pay cash to employees who have already opted out of the district’s health insurance.
“The only time you make up in cash in lieu is when people who currently have your insurance get off your insurance,” Kuhn said.
Kuhn provided an example of the district giving employees $5,000 for cash in lieu of health insurance, in which it would cost the district $250,000. Under this scenario, Kuhn said 16-20 families who have health insurance plans through the district would need to opt out of the district’s health insurance for it to be a viable financial option for the district.
Kuhn reminded the board that the district’s goal was for the increase in the cost of the district’s health insurance to be under 10%. The health insurance plans that the board had previously approved included around a 6% increase.
“The days of going into education because of the awesome insurance I think ended a long time ago,” Kuhn said.
Board member Jason Moder agreed with Kuhn that the financial issues with health insurance costs are not unique to the Clintonville School District.
Board Treasurer Klint Barkow asked Kuhn if the district’s insurance broker did everything they could to find the best insurance plans available to the district.
Kuhn said the district’s insurance broker has done a good job.
Because some employees may leave the district to find a job with a district with better health insurance, Kuhn recommended that if the board make any changes to the district’s health insurance, that it be done at this meeting.
If the board took no action on changes to its health insurance, Kuhn guessed some district employees would try to find a job at a different district because of health insurance.
Kuhn said increasing the amount of money that employees receive from the district in their HRA would be the easiest way for the district to provide more for district employees. He acknowledged that not all employees would be happy with just more funds from the district in their HRA.
Board member Mark Zachow asked Kuhn is increasing the funds placed in an employee’s HRA is the most attractive option for district employees.
“At this point anything is better than nothing,” Kuhn said. “The ones that I talked to really want cash in lieu, but that gets messy with how we have it set up.”
Board member Christopher Hoffmann asked how much the health insurance premium cost increased for district employees.
Kuhn said between $300-$400 for the next school year.
He added that the employees cost the district the most amount of money in the yearly budget, but employees are the most important to the district.
“I can pretty much with certainty guarantee that if you’re going to do more to the HRA and I have to go back to the building administrators and say, ‘Cut your building budgets,’ I think the majority of people would be fine with that,” Kuhn said. “If we have to pay more for staffing, we’re going to have to cut things elsewhere.”
Hoffmann said whatever the board decides, it is important that it doesn’t set a precedent that extra funds will be placed in employee HRA accounts due to the cost of insurance increasing.
Moder agreed with Hoffmann.
“I mean, it sucks to say it, but again, I know a lot, a lot of people that are paying far more for their health insurance than our district employees are, to be 100% truthful,” Moder said. “We can’t go on every year because at the end of the day we don’t have the money.”
Kuhn added, “I think it’s a baby step in the right direction because who knows what next year is going to bring.”
Huber agreed, adding that this can be done only for this year.
“And the other reality is, our pockets are only so deep,” Moder added.