FAYETTEVILLE -- Washington County employees say proposed changes to the county's self-funded health insurance program will be tantamount to a pay cut for workers with families, even if the county gives them a pay raise.
"A lot of our guys are paycheck to paycheck," said Charles Ward, Road Department superintendent.
Many county employees called the Human Resources Department on Friday after the department released a survey on the proposed insurance changes, officials said. Some employees had just found out about the proposed changes, Sheriff Tim Helder said.
About 533 full-time employees and 26 retired employees are on the county's Group Health Insurance Plan, which justices of the peace are considering changing, Human Resources Director Lindsi Huffaker said in an email. The changes would affect employees and elected officials, she said.
The proposed changes would make the county's insurance comparable to similar agencies and save the county money, said Nelson Driver, risk management consultant. But Juliet Richey, the county planning director, said the changes also would end one of the best benefits the county has for attracting and keeping employees.
The proposal would raise insurance costs for employees who are married, have children or want family coverage, according to documents released at a recent Quorum Court meeting. Retirees with spouses also would pay more, the document shows.
The county's contribution of $411 per employee would not change under the proposal, Driver said.
"They are looking at passing all the costs onto people with families," Helder said. "If the county is going to pass on every bit of increases to the employees and only to the employees, it's going to kill the employees."
County employees already are paid less than average, according to a study presented during the 2015 budget cycle. The county's internal pay average was about 3 percent behind the average for market pay last year. This year's study is likely to show that county employees' pay lags even further behind the average, said Blair Johanson, compensation consultant for Washington County.
"All of our employees need a raise, and they need a significant one," Helder said.
Johanson and Driver plan to make presentations about salary adjustments and the county's health insurance during the Quorum Court meeting Aug. 18.
The move to change the health insurance comes as justices of the peace say they want to give pay raises. A proposed 4 percent pay increase failed in July, but justices of the peace said it failed because revenue projections are not yet available.
At least one justice of the peace, Lisa Ecke, said last month that she supported a pay raise of more than 4 percent. Ecke is a Republican who represents the area south of U.S. 412 and west of U.S. 71.
Helder said that to stop the changes to health insurance from effectively cutting some employees' pay, the Quorum Court would have to give a pay raise of more than 4 percent.
Justice of the Peace Eva Madison, a Democrat representing northwestern Fayetteville, said she wants to consider the county's job-grading system, which was last adjusted in 2012. The last pay raise was in 2015.
County employees deserve a pay raise, said Justice of the Peace Ann Harbison, a Democrat representing south-southeastern Washington County.
"I think we need to step up and tell the employees of Washington County that they are important," Harbison said.
Driver said the health insurance changes are being proposed because the county doesn't have the money to support the current program.
"The decisions are going to be tough on this," he told justices of the peace. "The bottom line is that we have to come up with a little over $820,000 to keep this plan solvent. Health care costs are not slowing down."
The Quorum Court has propped up the fund for years, Driver said, arguing that fundamental changes can't be put off any longer.
The county will add roughly $800,000 to the fund again this year.
The fund had $1.3 million at the end of July, but about $350,000 will come out soon to cover a liver transplant, Driver said. The roughly $1 million left is not enough to cover catastrophic illnesses, he said.
The fund must be at $1.85 million by September, when the county bids for insurance, Driver said.
"You are just a few claims away from the fund being broke," Driver told justices of the peace in July.
The changes are meant to get an overall increase of $820,000 into the fund, according to a letter to the Quorum Court from Driver.
Deductible costs, use of doctors outside of network, copay for prescriptions and copay for primary doctor visits would increase if the new proposal passes. The three-month, carry-over provision for employees who did not completely reach their deductibles would be removed, he said.
The $345 annual deductible would go up to options of $1,000, $750 or $500, documents show. Depending on the plan, costs to some employees and retirees with spouses would rise between 6 percent and 30 percent, records show.
The changes wouldn't include a wellness program, Driver said.
"It's unfair to ask us to pay marketplace insurance rates if we aren't paid marketplace salaries. It feels like all those great benefits, and the reason those below-market wages are OK, are being stripped from your employees," said Courtney McNair, senior county planner. "We don't have the extra money sitting around."
If the insurance plan must be at market, then the Quorum Court must have a serious talk about salaries, Huffaker said.
"There must be a balance between compensation and benefits," she said. "If one is at or below market, the other needs to counter in order for Washington County to continue attracting top talent."
Washington County historically has provided better-than-market health insurance and retirement benefits for its employees, Huffaker said. Many employees choose to work for the county because of the benefits, she said.
The retirement benefits are still better than the market, but if justices of the peace approve the health insurance changes, then it will be less attractive to prospective and current employees than it has been in the past, Huffaker said.
"Lack of qualified personnel simply translates to inefficient business practices, which often cost more money," Huffaker said.
Some departments already are struggling to recruit and retain employees, Richey said. Richey's county planning department handles land issues including floodplain permits and land-use regulations.
"We have got to do something, because I'm really struggling as a manager," she said.
Despite officials' concerns about hiring and retention, the county's overall average turnover rate is expected to shrink this year over last year, Huffaker said. The rate was about 8 percent last year, compared with a projected rate of nearly 6 percent this year, she said.
That number doesn't show departments where high turnover is already a problem. The Washington County sheriff's office has a roughly 10 percent turnover rate, Helder said. Eight positions are open, spokesman Kelly Cantrell said in a message Friday.
Twenty-three sheriff's office employees have left so far this year, Helder said. Some leave to take care of their families, for better pay or for safety concerns, the sheriff said, adding that some employees have left to start mowing lawns because that work pays better.
The sheriff's office presented figures last month that show positions are paid below what the same employee could make in Fayetteville, Springdale or Benton County. An entry patrolman in Washington County, for example, is paid $14.98 per hour versus $17.15 in Fayetteville, according to records provided by Cantrell. That position pays $15.51 per hour in Benton County and $15.81 per hour in Springdale.
"The job that we perform is critical to society. I would think the general public would want to take care of their employees," Helder said. "I think they assume that it's already being done."
Metro on 08/07/2016