Board settles administrators? health insurance controversy

By a split vote, the Fairfield Community School District Board of Directors settled the controversial topic of administrators? health insurance during the meeting Monday evening at the Fairfield Middle School.

The decision was split in two parts.

The first part states that any new administrative hires of people new to the district after Oct. 29, 2010, will receive their choice of single or family insurance as part of a benefit package, not salary. In a roll call vote, Jennifer Anderson, Margaret Dwyer, Jeri Kunkle, Ralph Messerli and Gail Miller voted ?yes.? Doug Flournoy and Bob Waugh voted ?no.?

The second part of the decision states those who select single insurance will receive a monthly stipend of 50 percent of the difference between the single and family rate toward an annuity. In a roll call vote, Anderson, Dwyer, Kunkle and Miller voted ?yes.? Flournoy, Messerli and Waugh voted ?no.?

Administrative team members currently have the dollar value of family medical insurance added to their taxable income. The administrator then pays for whichever insurance package they choose through payroll deduction. Some board members have said it?s not fair to taxpayers for medical coverage funds to be added onto an administrator?s salary so that it counts toward his or her IPERS and FICA. The decision the board made Monday will not affect current administrators ? they will be ?grandfathered in.? But some board members would like to hold a future discussion on how to remedy that situation.

But, for now, Dwyer said the primary idea was to get IPERS and FICA ?straightened up? for new-hire administrators and to save taxpayers? money by giving the insurance as a benefit instead of attaching it to salary. The district won?t see any savings now because the method of payment for current administrators is not changing, but it will see a savings in the future when new administrators are hired, she said.

For the complete article, see the Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2010, printed edition of The Fairfield Ledger.