LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The town is expected to see a decrease in health insurance for the coming year after Berkshire Health Group made changes to the plans.
The joint purchasing group has opted to eliminate one health insurance option and instead move to a deductible plan. Town Manager Paul Sieloff said the town will save some $44,000 in premiums, a third of which will be shared with the employees.
"Yes, we have to share the savings the first year but after the first year, the town maintains the entire savings," Sieloff said.
The move is welcomed among town officials who have been watching insurance prices jump each year over the last few years. A consultant estimated the difference between the two plans, saying the employees will be saving some $10,000 in premiums and the town will see $44,492.
Of that town's savings, a portion has to go back to the employees.
On Monday, the Board of Selectmen approved splitting the $13,600 savings with lump-sum checks. Each employee will see $150 for those on individual plans and $300 for those on the family plan, Sieloff said.
"It is a compromise. We just can't keep going up 10, 12 percent every year," Sieloff said. "At this point, this plan is great because it slightly lowers the cost this year."
The has been somewhat of a push in recent years to reduce the town's share of the health insurance. That, however, is part of collective bargaining and would have to be negotiated with each union. These changes to the plan do not need to be renegotiated.
The changes to the plan come at a critical point in time for Lanesborough. The town is currently going through what Sieloff has described as a three-year transition. The bills to build and renovate Mount Greylock Regional School are ramping up over these three years while the Berkshire Mall's assessment is decreasing.
The town manager says he doesn't know what will happen to insurance in the future but he is hoping this resets the cost somewhat.
Sieloff had originally set his sights on bringing forth a budget that increased taxes by 1.5 percent, plus whatever the impacts the school bills have. Now, he says he might be able to bring that closer to 1 percent, thanks in part to avoiding a health insurance increase.
"I'm thinking I might be able to come in a 1 percent instead of 1.5 percent," Sieloff said.
Lanesborough Elementary School officials are targeting a flat budget for the upcoming year and preliminary numbers from Mount Greylock show something similar. McCann came in with a slight increase, but the town has fewer students attending this upcoming year so the hit is "modest."
Sieloff's proposed budget hasn't been fully crafted yet but he hopes to have that by the end of the week, including the capital plan. The Board of Selectmen said it wants to hold a joint meeting to go over the numbers with the Finance Committee. That has been tentatively scheduled for March 27.
The Selectmen did get looks at the budgets for some of the largest departments. The board reviewed the Fire Department budget and didn't raise any major concerns. Sieloff had undertaken a process of merging some similar lines, which led to questions about the format.
The board also had few concerns with the Highway Department budget. Sieloff did note that he increased funding for road repairs. He is hoping to eventually grow that account to $100,000. For the coming year, he is proposing a $15,000 increase to bring the number to $75,000.
Chairman John Goerlach also questioned Sieloff's efforts to boost funding for winter roads. The proposal calls for a $4,000 increase. But towns do have the ability to overrun that budget and make up for it in the following year. That has been the practice for years but Sieloff is looking to slowly increase that line so that the budget doesn't go into deficit at all.
"We need to get that number up to $160,000, $180,000 eventually," Sieloff said.
The winter roads line is expected to yet again be overspent this year.
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Berkshire Wind Power Cooperative Corporation Scholarships
LUDLOW, Mass. — For the third year, Berkshire Wind Power Cooperative Corporation (BWPCC) will award scholarships to students from Lanesborough and Hancock.
The scholarship is open to seniors at Mount Greylock Regional High School and Charles H. McCann Technical School. BWPCC will select two students from the class of 2024 to receive $1,000 scholarships.
The scholarships will be awarded to qualifying seniors who are planning to attend either a two- or four-year college or trade school program. Seniors must be from either Hancock or Lanesborough to be considered for the scholarship. Special consideration will be given to students with financial need, but all students are encouraged to apply.
The BWPCC owns and operates the Berkshire Wind Power Project, a 12 turbine, 19.6-megawatt wind farm located on Brodie Mountain in Hancock and Lanesborough. The non-profit BWPCC consists of 16 municipal utilities located in Ashburnham, Boylston, Chicopee, Groton, Holden, Hull, Ipswich, Marblehead, Paxton, Peabody, Russell, Shrewsbury, Sterling, Templeton, Wakefield, and West Boylston, and their joint action agency, the Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company (MMWEC).
To be considered, students must submit all required documents including a letter of recommendation from their school counselor and a letter detailing their educational and professional goals. Application and submission details will be shared with students via their school counselors. The deadline to apply is Friday, April 19.
MMWEC is a not-for-profit, public corporation and political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts created by an Act of the General Court in 1975 and authorized to issue tax-exempt debt to finance a wide range of energy facilities. MMWEC provides a variety of power supply, financial, risk management and other services to the state's consumer-owned, municipal utilities.
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