Tollway finance committee recommends board consider OPEB reimbursement and stop‑loss insurance placement

The Finance & Audit Committee of the Toll Highway Authority, Illinois State, voted to place two finance items on the full board agenda after a staff presentation on funding for retiree benefits and stop‑loss insurance coverage.

Kathy Williams, chief financial officer, told the committee the first item is “a request to reimburse the amount of the total share of the state's cost of other post employment benefits” and said the tollway is required by the “state employees group insured act” to reimburse CMS for these benefits, which include medical and dental coverage. Williams presented a second item recommending stop‑loss insurance coverage to limit the authority’s exposure to high claim costs.

The nut of the committee’s action was procedural: members approved placing both items on the February board meeting agenda with the committee’s recommendation. Committee members voted “aye” to place finance item No. 1 and to place finance item No. 2 on the full board agenda; both motions passed after motions, seconds and verbal roll calls.

Williams described the stop‑loss proposal as pricing the coverage at $80.81 per member per month, with an annual estimated premium of $1,195,889. She said the proposed structure includes a claim cap of roughly $4,400,000 for a single claim event to limit the tollway’s exposure and that coverage would replace current arrangements when the TriNet contract ends on Feb. 28, 2025. "So that's correct. So what it does is it helps us manage the risk and give us predictability in terms of how much our claim cost," Williams said.

Committee members asked questions about procurement for the insurance broker. Staff said the authority currently uses a state‑issued broker arrangement but plans to issue an RFP for a broker, with a posting expected within days and a goal of returning a recommendation to the full board in late spring or early summer. A committee member noted the state contract gives brokers a wide client base and questioned whether the authority could get more competitive service by running its own procurement; staff replied the RFP will request comparable, apples‑to‑apples options and that broker proposals will be evaluated on technical expertise and cost.

No members of the public spoke during the public comment period. The committee approved placement of both finance items on the full board agenda and then adjourned.

The committee also approved, without substantive discussion, the minutes from its Nov. 21, 2024, and Dec. 19, 2024, meetings.