Two Pa. Supervisors Give Up Health Insurance Reimbursement

Feb. 16--Butler Township taxpayers will no longer pay for health insurance that two supervisors receive through their private employment.

In a statement issued Wednesday, township Manager Maryanne Petrilla said, "Butler Township Supervisors Brian Kisenwether and Charles Altmiller announced today that they will forego receiving reimbursement for medical insurance."

Petrilla said Kisenwether and Altmiller are "victims of a grey area" between the state law that allows supervisors to receive township-funded health insurance and the insurance companies that disallow coverage for non-full-time employees.

However, Supervisor Ransom Young said the arrangement to reimburse Kisenwether and Altmiller for private health insurance costs was "questionable to say the least."

"Really, we were subsidizing their businesses," Young said.

Kisenwether is owner of Kisenwether Auto Body and Towing of Drums. Altmiller owns a company called Traffic Control of Drums.

Young does not receive taxpayer-paid health insurance for his service on the board and has been a vocal opponent of the benefit at public board meetings.

After the Standard-Speaker published a story in January detailing the practice, a crowd of township residents attended the board's Feb. 9 meeting to protest. That response from taxpayers prompted Kisenwether and Altmiller to give up the insurance benefits, they said in Petrilla's written statement.

"I heard the people and I am proud to represent the people of the township," Kisenwether said in the release. "If the people feel that strongly about this issue then I will listen and will forego reimbursement for the insurance."

Altmiller said in the release, "I have the utmost respect for the people I represent and am more than willing to make this financial sacrifice if the people of Butler Township feel so strongly about it."

In a telephone interview Wednesday, Petrilla explained that insurance industry regulations prevent the township from enrolling the supervisors in a township-paid health insurance plan because they are not full-time employees.

However, the state's Second-Class Township Code clearly states that township supervisors are entitled to health insurance, so the supervisors acquired their own health insurance through their own businesses and billed the township for reimbursement of the cost, she said.

The arrangement would have cost the township about $36,000 annually.

Young said he received township-funded health insurance last year because he was employed as full-time township road foreman, not because he was a supervisor.

Kisenwether and Altmiller voted to eliminate the position of road foreman when the supervisors reorganized Jan. 3. Young said the payment for his January health insurance was made in December, so he still had township-paid insurance through January even though his full-time employment with the township ended with reorganization.

According to the release from Petrilla, Kisenwether and Altmiller plan to "reach out to the state legislators to address the language in the Second-Class Township Code."

"This isn't about Charlie or me," Kisenwether said in the release. "This is about getting the code changed so that future supervisors throughout Pennsylvania don't have this same problem in the future. We want to make sure the code is clear and future elected officials are protected from this confusion."

When contacted Wednesday, Young said he knew nothing of the press release from Petrilla.

At the Jan. 3 meeting, Young suggested a phase-out of the perk by eliminating family members from the benefit followed by an outright elimination of the benefit in 2013.

Young then made a motion at the board's Jan. 12 and Feb. 9 meetings to reopen the 2012 budget to eliminate the health care benefit for supervisors. Both attempts failed for lack of a second.

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