Employees to contribute to health coverage

May 11-- May 11--CLINTON -- The Clinton County Area Solid Waste Agency's full-time employees soon will be required to contribute to health insurance premiums.

Full-time employees of the Clinton County Area Solid Waste Agency currently do not contribute to the cost of health insurance but the CCASWA board on Thursday approved a motion requiring county employees to contribute 8 percent to their health insurance premium.

The contribution will be $58.66 per month for single policies and $119.66 for family policies. The motion also included a 2 percent raise for employees and an additional 70 cents per hour for health insurance for full-time employees. The 70 cent increase will assist workers with the cost of the health insurance increase.

CCASWA Director of Operations and Education Brad Seward said a small committee met in late April to discuss the wage proposal. He said the committee agreed proper compensation for the agency employees should be done one time.

"The expectation they understand is as the percentages increase we'll do our best but it's not going to be every time that we're going to go ahead and cover this insurance. This is a one-time deal," CCASWA DeWitt representative Garey Chrones said.

Seward said he met with the full-time employees and explained the proposed insurance contribution change. He said the employees indicated they understood the change.

"The response I got is 'I'm glad we're being taken care of'," Seward said. "The people that were very vocal about it the last time we had this conversation...they said they felt glad they were being taken care of with the escalator and then the raise because they didn't want to be getting paid less."

Seward added that even with the wage increases, CCASWA's payroll will decrease during the 2020 fiscal year. He said this is due to a position not being filled.

"We have a retirement and we are not filling that position," Seward said. "And it's not a mandatory position. It's just a position that was this year used in order to train somebody."

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