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Police officers receive annual four percent pay raise
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By Andrew Kuehl
akuehl@kewaskumstatesman.com
KEWASKUM- The village of Kewaskum approved a new three-year contract with their police officers at the January 22 village board meeting. The new contract gives police officers a two-percent increase in pay twice a year, and reflects changes in their health insurance.
The pay increase is for each employee, full or part-time. They receive one two-percent increase January 1 of the current year and another on July 1.
Because the health insurance plan in their last contract is no longer available, officers agreed to a different plan with much higher deductibles, office visit charges and increased prescription co-pays. However through a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) the increase in deductibles is evening out.
Village Administrator Jay Shambeau says that when Anthem bought out Blue Cross – Blue Shield the company stopped offering the plan afforded to police officers. In their last contract a single-person plan had a deductible of $250 while a husband/wife and family plan had a $500 deductible.
Out-of-pocket expenses will remain the same even though the new plan reflects a single person now having a $1,000 deductible, a husband and wife $2,000 and a family, $3,000. To make up for the increased out-of-pocket expenses, the village will reimburse those increased expenses through a flexible spending account. After the village makes up for the increase by annually adding to the FSA, the deductible remains the same.
Shambeau says the addition of a FSA opens up new avenues for the police officers because they can use the money in their FSA to pay for things like vision and dental care. Those items are not covered under their current plan. The money can also be spent on other out-of-pocket expenses like office visits and prescriptions.
After the village contributes their agreed upon FSA portion, employees can contribute on their own as well. Employee Benefits Corporation of Madison will administer and manage the FSA accounts for the village. The company also manages health savings accounts for the village.
With both parties agreeing to the contract, a pending grievance filed by four police officers was dismissed. The grievance was based on those officers not being paid overtime for attending a non-required meeting concerning health insurance coverage.
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