GREENFIELD — City employees could receive up to a $1,000 stipend next year, depending on how the rising health insurance costs affect the budget, Greenfield City Council members said Thursday.
Greenfield officials met over the course of three evenings this past week to discuss the 2019 city budget. During the final budget meeting on Thursday, the council voted to tentatively award $1,000 stipends to all 232 city employees, excluding themselves and members of the Board of Works and Public Safety.
The stipends, which would be dispersed over 26 pay periods in 2019 and not in a lump sum, could change due to a spike in health insurance costs. Greenfield Clerk-Treasurer Lori Elmore said the city is expected to see its health insurance prices increase by 15 percent in 2019. That’s slightly less than an initial estimate of 16.8 percent. Elmore said the city previously hasn’t seen health insurance rise by a double-digit percentage.
Because of that increase and uncertainty in how it’ll affect the 2019 budget, Elmore advised the city council to review the stipend proposal at their Sept. 12 meeting once her office recalculates salaries to include the 15 percent hike instead of the 16.8 percent estimate. She said the stipends could end up being less than $1,000 or the city may award the stipends later in the year when funding is available.
“There are quite a few variances in how we could do that,” Elmore said. “We just have to make sure the funding is available to support it.”
Elmore said with the higher insurance costs, the city will do what it can to cover most of the costs and not push it all on employee premiums. Currently, the city contributes over $900 a month to employees with PPO plans, while they only have $45 monthly premiums.
Kerry Grass, council president, said the stipends would only be for 2019. Council members expressed not giving pay raises to employee yearly salaries due to unknowns with health insurance costs and funding.
The council also discussed various personnel requests for the Greenfield Fire Territory’s budget. On Wednesday, the council approved the territory’s $5.8 million budget for 2019, which included some increases in supplies and professional services. The budget, however, isn’t fully funded, Elmore said, so the city will need to take $205,040 from the Local Option Income Tax, or LOIT, to cover the shortfall.
Fire Chief James Roberts said the fire territory’s underfunded budget has been covered by LOIT over the past few years, typically short by more than $200,000 each year. Roberts requested the city approve the hiring of three firefighter EMTs, part-time paramedics, a part-time fire inspector/public educator and an administrative assistant. The salaries would cost money outside of the $5.8 million budget.
The city council didn’t approve any of the fire territory’s personnel requests, but did OK the city possibly hiring the three proposed firefighters during the third quarter of 2019 pending available funding. That idea was brought up through discussions territory officials have had with other fire departments, Jason Horning, deputy chief of operations for the fire territory, told the council.
Once the council approves up to a $50,000 needs assessment on the fire territory next month, then the city may know if there’s any monies available to hire additional firefighters.
“I just want to thank you guys for giving us a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel,” Horning said. “I know it’s tough, but hopefully we’ll be able to get some definite answers coming back from the study.”
Elmore said the three additional firefighters would cost $375,000. If the council would’ve approved the hires to start at the beginning of next year, Elmore said the city would’ve depleted its LOIT funding designated for the fire department.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” Grass said about looking into hiring personnel later in 2019.
Members of the Hancock County Professional Firefighters, the union organization representing local career firefighters, have previously stated the territory needs 16 additional firefighters to align it better with industry standards outlined by the National Fire Protection Agency. The department currently has 49 full-time firefighters.
Elmore said the fire territory has had a revenue stream issue affecting its budget. For the $2 million the territory bills patients for ambulance services, they’re only receiving about $800,000 back due to Medicare reimbursements.
Roberts said on Wednesday that the fire department could bring in about $1 million this year, higher than previous years. But, Roberts said the territory will still look into increasing the ambulance billing rate. He said Greenfield has the lowest rate compared to departments of similar sizes.
The city is budgeting for the territory to receive $875,000 in revenue next year, Elmore said. Roberts added that he’s hoping 2019 brings in more revenue similar to the current trends for this year.
“The more revenue coming in the better,” Roberts said on Thursday afternoon. “Hopefully it’s a way to sustain some more people coming in.”
Jason Davis, president of the union, told the council on Thursday evening that Greenfield firefighters in the union would forgo pay raises in order to hire extra firefighters.
The city plans to have an Oct. 10 public hearing on the 2019 budget. Local entities have to submit their budgets to the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance no later than Nov. 3.
