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Wise County supervisors preserve volunteer fire and rescue funding, approve insurance plan change
Summary
The Wise County Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed to exclude volunteer fire and rescue from proposed budget cuts and approved switching county health insurance to a $500 deductible plan with an 80%/20% employer/employee split; the insurance motion passed with one recorded no vote.
WISE COUNTY — The Wise County Board of Supervisors met March 18 and during budget discussions voted to exclude volunteer fire and volunteer rescue from consideration for budget cuts and approved changes to the county’s health‑insurance plan.
Board members moved unanimously to exempt volunteer fire and rescue services from budget cuts planned in the upcoming fiscal review, the board chair said. The motion drew no discussion and passed by voice vote.
County staff told the board that rising insurance costs required adjustments. Staff outlined an option to move from the county’s current $250 deductible plan to a $500 deductible plan and to restore employer/employee premium cost sharing to 80% employer and 20% employee. Staff estimated that remaining on the current plan could have increased county costs “almost $400,000,” while moving to the proposed plan and returning to an 80/20 split would save roughly $89,000; staff said they are continuing to refine those figures.
Supervisor Carter moved to adopt the $500 deductible/$80 employer‑20 employee cost‑sharing arrangement; Supervisor Peters seconded. The motion passed. The transcript records one board member voting no but does not identify which member. No further amendments were recorded.
A supervisor also raised that the county provides services to some municipalities without reimbursement and asked staff to open communications with those localities about sharing costs. The board discussed scheduling additional budget meetings to review department personnel allotments and other details before finalizing the budget; members agreed to address outstanding items at the regular April session and to recess for further budget work if needed.
The board certified that matters discussed in an earlier closed session were lawfully exempt from open meeting rules and signed the required certification before continuing open‑session business. The meeting recessed for about 30 minutes earlier in the session and later adjourned.
The board did not publish a complete roll‑call tally for the insurance vote in the transcript; the record shows the insurance motion passed with one recorded no vote and the volunteer‑service exclusion passed by voice vote.
