Acton Town Employees Facing Changes in Health Benefits

Employees of the Town of Acton may soon find themselves with health insurance benefits that were not negotiated in the traditional manner.

Last Monday night, meeting ended without a decision being made regarding the adoption of Chapter 69 of the Acts of 2011. The issue has been tabled until Monday, November 21, 2011, when the board will reconvene at 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall. A vote is  scheduled to take place at that time.

Chapter 69 is a relatively new provision of Massachusetts law. Passed in July of 2011 and called the Municipal Health Insurance Reform Act, it allows for the governing body of a city or town to assume responsibility for altering health insurance benefits for its employees if that municipality is in a state of financial emergency. Salaries and benefits for personnel typically comprise a majority of a community’s budget; the statute’s goal is to decrease health insurance’s cost, thereby improving the financial status of the city or town.

Before moving forward with Chapter 69, the governing body of a town must demonstrate that altering their employees’ current health insurance plans to more closely resemble state employees’ health benefits will result in savings of at least 5% of the current cost. This must occur within a year’s time. They must also ascertain that the current manner of determining  benefits for town employees will not be effective in achieving this goal.

If these criteria are met, plan design changes can be made in order to realize these savings. Another option is the transfer of all employees to the state’s Group Insurance Commission, the GIC, which is presumed to be less expensive and to afford similar reductions.

Acton's Health Insurance Trust officials commissioned two studies; these determined that the town was likely to save between 6% and 8% of the cost of health insurance premiums if alternatives to the current plans were pursued. The Segal Company and Cook and Company findings have been posted on the town’s website for review.

The town of Acton currently spends approximately $16 million per year providing health insurance to its employees. According to the consulting companies’ figures, the amount of money that would be saved annually is estimated between $1 and $1.3 million.

A majority vote of the four Acton Selectmen (Pamela Harting-Barrat, Janet Adachi, David Clough and chairperson Mike Gowing) would enable Acton’s government to assume negotiations for health insurance benefits provided to eligible town employees. These include members of the police, fire and public works departments, non-union school employees, other administrators, and teachers in grades pre-K to 6.

This change would not affect the regional school district teachers at and the . These educators’ health insurance plans would remain the same for the duration of the current contract term. Subsequently, benefits would be renegotiated in the customary manner, collective bargaining between representatives of both the town’s school committee and Acton Education Association.

Until now, contract negotiations for both Acton Public School and Acton-Boxborough Regional School district teachers have been handled by the same collective bargaining sessions. These talks have covered all aspects of the teachers’ responsibilities and benefits, not just health insurance.

Of the nearly 700 individuals (teachers, nurses, office support staff, and non-union employees) who are eligible for health insurance benefits through Acton and Acton-Boxborough school employment, approximately 40% work for the Acton Public Schools and 60% for regional school district. Two-thirds are union members whose contracts expire on August 31, 2013.

Changes to health insurance for town employees would begin at the current fiscal year-end or when current contracts expire.

After passing Chapter 69, the Board of Selectmen would need to follow a precise mode of implementation. This process, which begins with a prescribed procedure of notification for all affected parties, allows for a 30-day negotiation period. Should agreement not be reached during this time frame, the appointment of a review panel to mediate any conflicts would commence.

Gowing, who asserts that the town of Acton meets the criteria outlined in Chapter 69’s guidelines, is confident that the measure will be adopted by the board of selectmen.

Explaining that the vote would have been 3-1 in favor had it been taken on November 7th, Gowing suggests that, instead of mounting an opposition, those who will be affected use the time between now and Monday night to educate themselves about the upcoming changes.

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