Elburn board green-lights benefits plan that could save village thousands per employee

Elburn Village Board members gave the go-ahead at their Aug. 5 meeting for a cost-savings measure that also could financially benefit employees who opt out of the village’s insurance plans and switch over to their spouse’s or parent’s plan.

In introducing the option to the board, Assistant Village Administrator Chris Ramsey said the village spends $362,000 a year to cover its employees’ medical and dental insurance. With an estimated 9.16% increase in costs for next year, that number increases to $400,000.

Ramsey’s proposed plan offers incentives to employees choosing to opt out – a stipend of $2,500 a year for those enrolled in employee coverage only up to a stipend of $5,000 a year for those with family coverage.

The village’s current costs to cover an employee are between $8,000 and $10,000. The savings to the village if an employee opts out of the village’s plan would be $5,500 or $8,100 a year per employee, even including the stipend. For an employee with a family plan, the village would save $18,000 a year per employee.

This would come to 76% to 78% savings for the village per year per employee and 22% to 24% savings for the employee.

“It’s a savings for us and a benefit for them,” Ramsey said.

Based on a recent benefits survey, employees’ responses were that it would depend on how much the change would add to their spouse’s costs.

Ramsey said that as the village grows and the number of employees to serve that population grows, five to 10 years down the road the cost savings for the village would be even higher.

Ramsey said the opt-out program could be implemented for the following year’s plan period, which begins Nov. 1.