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Chairman Kole proposes interest-rate, health-insurance and PTO changes to cut township costs
Summary
Chairman Rob Kole outlined three possible cost-saving areas — repositioning cash to higher-yield accounts, reviewing the health-insurance plan (including a spousal-coverage policy), and moving to a paid-time-off structure — and estimated concrete dollar savings for each while managers cautioned about current consortium benefits.
At the April 1 Dickinson Township supervisors meeting, Chairman Rob Kole presented a preliminary review identifying three areas where the township could reduce annual costs.
Kole said the township’s general fund balance remains about $1.5 million and that the current account yield is roughly 1.25 percent compared with money-market rates he cited at 4.5 to 5 percent. "By increasing the interest on that account alone the Township would gain an additional $30,000 to $50,000 of interest income annually," he said.
On health insurance, Kole cited a Kaiser Family Foundation survey and said the township’s plan costs are about 35 percent above the national average. He proposed examining benefit-plan changes, adjusting employee contribution rates and instituting a spousal-coverage policy that would exclude spouses who have other employer-sponsored coverage — a change he said could save about $27,000 per year. Manager Larry Barrick countered that the township participates in a consortium that returns up to $50,000 annually after claims are reviewed, noting that consortium payments affect net plan costs.
Kole also proposed converting the existing vacation/sick/personal-time system to a single paid-time-off (PTO) policy, which he said would be more employee friendly and would remove a backend liability associated with sick-time payouts; he estimated the change could reduce the township’s payout liability by about $8,000.
Kole asked the township solicitor to survey peer municipalities on current interest-rate practices. Supervisors agreed these areas are worth examining further but emphasized the need to avoid disrupting employees and to seek win–win changes.
Next steps include follow-up analysis from staff and the solicitor’s survey of peer township account practices so the Board can assess trade-offs and net savings before proposing any policy changes.
