Clearwater benefits committee tables health-plan renewal after accounting discrepancy; proposes 2.6% rate increase

The City of Clearwater Benefits Committee postponed a planned vote on renewing the city’s self-funded health insurance plan after staff disclosed a discrepancy in historical reserve accounting and presented a reduced proposed increase for 2022. The committee voted to table the renewal so union and membership leaders could review corrected figures and brief their units before a final decision.

The committee was told the city’s self-insurance fund shows a city ledger balance of about $2.8 million in surplus and that the benefits consultant’s earlier projection for a 5.3% overall increase could be reduced to 2.6% by using part of that surplus and estimated pharmacy rebates. Members pressed staff to explain an accounting discrepancy driven by how dual-city-employee family enrollments were reported in a vendor data feed, which overstated funding and claims in the consultant’s historical spreadsheet.

Why it matters: Committee members said the corrected numbers materially change the picture they were taking to their memberships. Several union representatives asked for time to present the corrected figures to members and to confirm whether the apparent multi-year surplus…