Campton Hills trustees debate health benefit cost-sharing, schedule special budget workshop after projected large premium increases

Trustees spent the meeting's longest block reviewing employee benefit designs, overtime rules and managed time off (MTO) policies as part of budget preparation, and asked staff to bring updated premium information after a projected significant insurance rate increase.

Administrators reviewed current practice: the personnel manual allows employees to carry over up to 280 MTO hours and the village pays a significant share of premiums under its IPBC pool membership. Trustees examined monthly cost lines showing the village's monthly contributions for single, spouse, child, and family coverage and discussed how past structuring made family coverage relatively inexpensive compared with other tiers.

Trustees debated proposed contribution splits. Administrator Rooney presented a worked example that used 10%/35%/35%/50% across single/spouse/child/family tiers as a sample; trustees and the chief rejected a 50% employee share as excessive. "To say 50% is insulting," Chief Levan said, arguing that such a share would harm recruitment and morale among a small police force. Board members instead discussed alternatives such as 10/15/15/25 or a single blended percentage (for example, 12.5% across all tiers) and asked staff to produce comparative charts of several scenarios.

Several trustees emphasized recruitment and retention concerns for the police department and said the board should be cautious about making large, one-time jumps in employee shares given expected premium increases of 20% to 30% at renewal. Trustees asked staff to ask IPBC for options (including HMO and high-deductible alternatives), present examples applying a 30% worst-case premium increase, and provide breakout tables showing employee-only multipliers (e.g., 12.5% across all tiers) versus multi-tier splits.

Trustees also discussed adding optional life-insurance increases, an employee assistance program (EAP), and the potential to change deductibles or plan design to reduce overall cost. Headcount and plan enrollment details were raised: the chief reported roughly three employees on the family plan and said new hires must document eligibility.

To give the board time to plug in numbers before the budget hearing, trustees set a special budget workshop for March 24. Staff will return with comparative charts of multiple cost-share scenarios, an estimate of premium increases post-renewal, life-insurance and EAP cost estimates, and recommendations on communication strategies to employees.

The board did not adopt new cost-sharing percentages at the meeting; trustees agreed to continue deliberations at the special workshop.