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Borough Highlands approves budget after hearing on sharp health-insurance increase
Summary
After a presentation noting a roughly 36.5% spike in health-insurance costs that added about $540,000 to this year’s budget, the Borough Highlands mayor and council approved the 2026 budget by voice vote following brief public comment and council questions.
The Borough Highlands mayor and council on May 20 adopted the borough’s 2026 budget after a presentation by the administrator that flagged a steep rise in employee-benefit costs.
The administrator said the largest single budget driver was health insurance, which rose about 36.5% and added roughly $540,000 to the borough’s costs. He also listed other major increases: contractual payroll up about $232,000; liability insurance up about $60,000; and debt service up about $88,000. The borough expects roughly $50,000 in cannabis-tax revenue this year and identified $171,000 in capital funding that could support between approximately $400,000 and $3.5 million in capital projects going forward.
The administrator said the borough had renewed its Delta Dental plan for 24 months at an 8.3% increase and that the state health benefits plan’s increase had driven the larger health-insurance figure. “The largest increase was health insurance…which came up to a $540,000 increase,” the administrator said.
Council members pressed staff on whether municipal employees would shoulder higher premiums. The administrator said employee contributions are scaled by income with a maximum employee share of about 35% of plan costs and that some individual employees experienced substantial dollar increases in their premiums. The council discussed whether joining a county plan or forming a joint entity with neighboring towns could secure lower rates but noted legal and administrative barriers to immediate consolidation.
With no substantive public comments on the budget during the public portion, a council member moved to adopt the budget, the motion was seconded, and the council approved the measure by voice vote.
The council did not record individual roll-call tallies in the transcript; approval was documented as a voice vote. The administrator and council said staff will continue to explore procurement and intermunicipal options and will report back on RFP outcomes and possible contract arrangements for services affected by the budget.
