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Beach Haven council adopts HRA ‘difference card,’ personnel appointments amid steep insurance increases
Summary
At a Dec. 18 special meeting, Beach Haven’s borough council approved a consent agenda that implements an HRA "difference card" paired with a state-approved high-deductible plan to blunt projected premium increases, and approved several personnel appointments and labor side agreements. The council also approved its bills.
The Beach Haven borough council on Dec. 18 approved a consent agenda that implements an HRA "difference card" and several personnel and labor items after officials said the borough faces steeply rising health insurance costs.
The council adopted Resolution 262 to appoint EBS Employee Solutions LLC, doing business as The Difference Card, to provide HRA services for borough employees; approved Resolution 263, which authorizes side agreements with Teamsters locals 35 and 97 related to those HRA accounts; authorized Resolution 264 appointing Adam Elander as emergency management coordinator (the transcript also spells the name as “Ellinger” in a later remark); and approved Resolution 265, an employment contract with Robin Young as construction official. The items were enacted together by a single motion and approved by recorded affirmative responses.
Why it matters: Speaker 2 told the council the borough is facing a projected 35% increase in health-insurance premiums and that an existing $20.35 plan will see a 55% increase for 2026. Pairing a state-approved high-deductible health plan with the HRA difference card will reduce premiums while allowing the borough to continue using the HRA to cover employees’ out-of-pocket costs, the speaker said. Officials said paperwork must be submitted quickly so the borough can offer a special open enrollment during the first two weeks of January.
The HRA vendor appointment and the Teamsters side agreements are intended to operationalize the borough’s approach to mitigating employee costs without shifting large premium increases onto workers. The council also approved a bill list presented at the meeting totaling $121,756.77.
"We are anticipating a 35% increase on our health insurance premiums," Speaker 2 said, describing the need to act promptly. "That plan is going to see a 55% increase going into 2026," the speaker added, and said the state-approved high-deductible option can be paired with the difference card to lower premiums.
The consent agenda items were moved and seconded and carried on affirmative roll-call responses prompted by the clerk. The transcript records the roll-call prompts for Miss Anderson, Mr. McCaffrey, Miss Snyder and Mayor Lambert and records affirmative answers; the council treated the set of resolutions as routine and voted to approve them together.
The meeting also included routine financial business: the council approved the bill list totaling $121,756.77 after a separate motion and recorded affirmative responses.
Next steps: Officials said they will complete and submit enrollment paperwork to the state so employees can be offered the new plan pairing during the borough’s special open enrollment period in early January.
