"When you were born you came into the world crying. Live your life so that when you leave this world you are smiling and everyone else is crying." Author Unknown
Gloucester City NJ (December 17, 2012)-Gloucester City Mayor and Council passed a resolution at the December 3 meeting that authorizes payments to those employees who have other health insurance to waive coverage under the municipality’s plan. In
consideration of such waiver the employee will receive annual payment of $5,000.
Those who elected to accept the $5,000 waiver included five members of City Council, (Mayor Wm. James, and council members, John Hutchinson, Jay Brophy, Nicholas Marchese, and Helen Bucher) all part-time employees and 15 full-time employees. See list below. The City is paying for the cost of health insurance for Councilman Bruce Parry, also a part-time employee. Councilman Dan Spencer said in the past that he does not accept the waiver nor does he partake in the City’s health plan.
According to figures released by Frank Robertson, the City’s
Financial Officer, there are 99 full-time employees receiving health care, one part-time employee (Parry) along with 51 retired city employees. A
breakdown of the costs for this insurance reveals:
Medical and Dental .........................$2,320,180
NET COST TO CITY........................$2,864,608
PLUS:
Payment to Employees for waiver of Health Care $75,534
TOTAL COST to TAXPAYERS: $2,940,142
LIST OF EMPLOYEES WHO WAIVE HEALTH BENEFITS
It is our opinion Gloucester City council members should not receive paid health benefits, a practice that has been going on for decades. Why? Because they are part-time employees. Another reason is the annual cost to taxpayers for this perk which in past years reached as high as $80,000. In fact, one councilman's health benefits cost taxpayers $19,000 annually.
We believe that mayor and council should not receive this perk nor do we believe they should be paid any money for not taking the insurance. For the past six years we have been urging council members to do the right thing.
Below is an excerpt from a CNBNews article on this topic that was posted on December 11, 2006. At the bottom of this article are links to several other
Members who volunteer their time to serve on the Gloucester City School Board are not entitled to health benefits since they too are part-time volunteers. Which is the way it should be.
Incidentally here in Gloucester City some council members who receive their health benefits from there employer are entitled to be reimbursed from the City for not accepting the city's health plan.
The payments to those city council members in some cases have reached as high as $10,000 annually (that was 2006). A nice part-time job especially when our local politicials lead the public to believe they are only receiving an annual salary of $1,000. I propose to the new members of council (The James Gang) to introduce a measure to stop part-time workers/volunteer council members from receiving health benefits. Likewise the measure should do away with reimbursing council members for not accepting the city's health plan.The change in this perk for volunteer service on city council would go a long way in setting the "bar" for future tax cuts that are needed in this city if any changes are going to be made. By setting the example at the top city employees will see it is not going to be the same Good Ole Boys/Girls Club" any longer. See December 2006 article
YOUR MONEY: HEALTH BENEFITS FOR GLOUCESTER CITY EMPLOYEES COST $3 MILLION
FIRST Published December 17, 2012
BY William E. Cleary Sr.
CNBNews.net
Gloucester City NJ (December 17, 2012)-Gloucester City Mayor and Council passed a resolution at the December 3 meeting that authorizes payments to those employees who have other health insurance to waive coverage under the municipality’s plan. In
consideration of such waiver the employee will receive annual payment of $5,000.
Those who elected to accept the $5,000 waiver included five members of City Council, (Mayor Wm. James, and council members, John Hutchinson, Jay Brophy, Nicholas Marchese, and Helen Bucher) all part-time employees and 15 full-time employees. See list below. The City is paying for the cost of health insurance for Councilman Bruce Parry, also a part-time employee. Councilman Dan Spencer said in the past that he does not accept the waiver nor does he partake in the City’s health plan.
According to figures released by Frank Robertson, the City’s
Financial Officer, there are 99 full-time employees receiving health care, one part-time employee (Parry) along with 51 retired city employees. A