Important Budget Committee Meeting Tuesday
6:30 PM Tuesday November 14th at the Gilford High School Lecture Room at the rear of the auditorium.
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The Municipal Budget Committee will discuss wages and benefits.
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This is the portion of the budget that they always blame for the yearly increases in spending.
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Reader question: How much do you pay per week for your health insurance? How much does your employer kick in? Post your answers in the comments section below. Oh, and did you catch last week's Citizen report on the Gilford BudCom subcommittee studying the issue?
Discussion of town employee wages and benefits had been put off in the past so as not to disrupt the normal budget review. Budget Committee Chair Dick Hickok explained at the beginning of Monday's meeting that he wanted to make sure there was a whole meeting devoted to such a discussion rather than to have occasional mentions of salary concerns without much progress being made on the topic..Hickok further noted that such concerns have arisen every year for the six years he has served on the committee. He said last year the committee decided to send a letter to the Board of Selectmen and, with a $154,839 or 4.5 percent proposed increase in salaries, he felt it is an area that warrants more discussion by the committee..Lambert raised the issue of employee benefits, especially costs pertaining to health care. Based on information from Assistant Town Administrator Debra Shackett, Lambert said that, fora single-person plan, the town pays $125 per week with the employee paying just $6.58 for health-care coverage.
Lambert said that, if the town required its employees to pay a bit more — for example, $15 per week toward health insurance — the town would be able to cut a significant amount of cost with very little impact to the worker's wage.
Or maybe $20.00. The copay is $5.00, by the way...
