Politics & Government

Caledonia Village Board Eyes Changes In Insurance Plans For Employees And New Employee Manual

Changes ahead for employees.

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The Village Board discussed a number of options to plug a potential $900,000 hole in their 2012 budget at their meeting Tuesday, Oct. 17.

Between insurance changes and personnel manual changes, the Village Board hopes to avoid layoffs.

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At this point, the Village Budget currently has a deficit of $507,000, but that is assuming the fire and police department unions agree to kick in 5.8 percent of their wages to pay their pensions to the Wisconsin Retirement System. If the police and fire unions don't agree to the cuts, the Village faces a $900,000 deficit. Under the state budget, the Village can only raise their levy limit to the same percentage of growth, which was at .22 percent.

"If I can't find it (the savings), there's going to be some layoffs," said Ron Coutts, village president. "It is what it is... we're hoping to get through this mess."

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While no decisions were made, the Board learned their insurance rates originally would have increased by 9 percent, but Greg Vaughn, of David Insurance, explained that he negotiated an increase of 3 1/2 percent with no changes in deductibles or co-pays. However, he presented several options for savings including offering a two-tiered insurance plan, and increasing deductibles and co-pays.

During the conversation, Tom Lebak, the village administrator, reminded the Board that the non-represented employees were already paying an increase of 5.8 percent into the Wisconsin Retirement System.

"I realize that, but we've got a shortfall," Coutts said. "We're not trying to do this on the back of our employees, but we're just trying to make this palatable for all of us. Whatever comes forward, we will be setting up discussions with the highway and non-represented village employees, and meeting with the fire and police separately."

The Village Board plans to finalize their decisions over the next few days.

They also introduced the Village's new personnel manual, which would still need to be approved by the board.

"Wednesday, Oct. 18 and Thursday, 19 we're looking at the budget, and there will be more dates as we move forward to discuss this," Coutts said.

For all employees, except fire and police union employees, longevity, residency requirements, comp time, severance packages -- are all being considered. The draft personnel manual also recommends that clothing allowances be eliminated, paid time-off programs be considered, quotes for short- and long-term disability insurance policy be sought, and sub-contracting would be an option for the Village.

Dates for police and fire negotiations have not yet been set, but will likely be set over the next week.

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