City employees to pay more for their insurance [The Jamestown Sun, N.D.]

June 20--Jamestown city employees will be paying more for health insurance after actions taken by the city Finance and Legal Committee during its regular meeting Tuesday.

The city is a self-funding group, paying claims from its own funds although the plan is administered by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Dakota. The city also pays premiums to BCBS to cover expenses that go over preset limits.

The cost charged to employees is then determined by the city based on recommendations from BCBS and the amount of reserves the city has in its health insurance fund.

"We're looking at the city share of costs going up 9.53 percent and the employee share about 10 percent," said Jeff Fuchs, city administrator.

The new charges for a single policy include a city share of $427 per month, up from about $410 last month. Employees with a single policy do not pay toward their health insurance.

Employees with a single-plus-dependents policy will pay $262 per month, up from about $240$571 per month, up from about $520 last year.

The changes will go into effect on Sept. 1 and will be in place for one year.

In other action, the Finance and Legal Committee approved a one-year continuation of the agreement between the city and county for the joint operation of the Stutsman County Communications Center. The continuation keeps in place an operational plan for the dispatch center involving county employed dispatchers supervised by Jamestown Police Department officers.

The Building, Planning and Zoning Committee approved a final plat for RTS First Addition and rezoning a portion of the plat from agriculture to commercial. The committee also approved rezoning lot 13 and 14, block 1 of Prairie Park addition from commercial to residential.

Actions by the two committees will be placed on the consent agenda for a City Council meeting scheduled for 4 p.m.June 26. That meeting is the final meeting for the current City Council. The council will reorganize with new members Dan Buchanan and Steve Brubakken after the City Council meeting on that date.

Sun reporter Keith Norman can be reached at 701-952-8452 or by email at [email protected]

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