Reprinted from The Connecticut Post © Copyright 2010
January 4, 2010

By Susan Silvers

TRUMBULL -- As he negotiated with municipal unions earlier this year for concessions that would reduce health insurance costs, then-Democratic First Selectman Raymond G. Baldwin Jr. apparently kept a secret that has raised the blood pressure of the new Republican administration.

It seems that Baldwin, and a number of other town officials, were getting their own health care coverage almost for free.

Baldwin's successor, Timothy M. Herbst, revealed that situation at a Monday morning news conference, saying about 40 employees were paying, at most, $52 annually while premium shares for unionized workers and even some non-unionized ones have risen to roughly 11 percent over perhaps the past decade.

"It was the best-kept secret in Trumbull," declared Herbst as he vowed to stop the practice in steps beginning next month. "We're going to pay the premium like everybody else," he said.

Herbst said he knew of no written policy authorizing free insurance, suggesting it dated to days when it was a common benefit. Yet even as about 200 members of municipal unions have seen premiums rise, the free insurance continued for elected officials, department heads, and some others.

The practice was so veiled that not even Board of Finance members were aware of it and it never came to light because they voted on the town's health outlay as a total line item, about $5 million for this fiscal year that ends in June, Herbst said. For this year, officials estimated it will cost the town $767,000 for the almost free insurance, or roughly 15 percent of the total.

Furthermore, as much as the Republicans criticized Baldwin for his fiscal management throughout the recent municipal campaign, they never raised the issue of such health insurance because, Herbst stressed, they didn't know.

Herbst said others were in the dark as well. In at least one case, a department head who pays a premium didn't know that one of his subordinates was receiving the nearly-gratis insurance.

The matter was also concealed during last year's health-insurance negotiations, according to municipal correspondence. The United Public Service Employees Union, which represents a variety of Town Hall workers, repeatedly asked for information on medical insurance co-shares paid by non-union employees. A response as recently as Sept. 11 answered other questions, but not that one.

Baldwin could not be reached for comment Monday.

Herbst said the issue emerged innocuously after the election, when his incoming town treasurer, John Ponzio, met to fill out routine paperwork with the town's personnel manager, Mary Ann Meier, who asked him whether he wanted health insurance. Ponzio, accustomed to the private sector, said he asked how much it was going to cost and was "shocked" to be told that, as an elected official, he would only have to pay $1 a week -- and that was for dental insurance. All other health insurance was free.

He called Herbst, who was even more surprised. "I was so furious I told him it couldn't be right," Herbst said.

Ponzio said he didn't have authority to delve fully into the matter until after he was sworn in Dec. 7, and was perhaps even more amazed to learn that the town's non-unionized school nurses were also on the list -- unlike their unionized supervisor, who pays a premium.

Kevin Maloney, a spokesman for the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, couldn't point to any other towns that have practices such as Trumbull has had.

"It would be very rare for a town to have the unionized people pay it and have non-unionized people not" co-share the payments, he said.

A spot check revealed widely different practices just in this area, including:

• Milford, where virtually all of the city's approximately 540 employees enjoy free health premiums, with the exception of police sergeants and patrol officers who pay 3 percent, according to John H. O'Connell, the city's personnel director;

n Monroe, where elected officials and key department heads pay 7.5 percent of their premiums, whereas unionized employees pay 12 percent to 13 percent for their coverage on a high-deductible health plan, said Catherine Fanucci, the human resources director; and

n Stratford, where at-will employees pay from 8.5 percent to 12.5 percent of their premiums with the higher-cost family premiums requiring lower percentage employee outlay, according to mayoral spokesman Adam Bauer<. He said he could not provide immediate full information in the absence of a town human resources director.

Herbst said the almost-free-for-many program will end next month, when all affected employees who have received the benefits will begin paying 2 percent of their premiums. The amount will rise incrementally 2 percent each month until July, when everyone would be on similar ground of about 11 percent.

"As a municipal CEO, you have to negotiate with a myriad of municipal unions," Herbst said. "You cannot ask these unions to make concessions and to pay additional health care costs when the chief elected official himself is getting free health care and a lot of political employees are getting free health care.

"You have to lead by example," he added.

Ponzio said, however, that real savings of about $12,000 monthly would begin at once, if only because several new employees, including two of Herbst's three attorneys, have refused town health benefits, and several positions have been eliminated.

This year, town premiums cost $728 monthly for a single person, $1,448 for a couple, and $1,958 for a family for what Ponzio called "Cadillac" medical, dental and vision coverage. Ponzio said savings from terminated policies and new contributions would add to about $215,000 annually under these rates, although rates can be expected to rise on July.

Among those on the list, besides the three elected officials of first selectman, town clerk, and treasurer, were all four former town attorneys, Baldwin's executive aides and secretary, the two town assistant registrars of voters, two top finance officials, the director of public works, and tree warden.

Two former employees were allowed to buy into the plan, one by state law and one under an executive directive by former First Selectman Paul Timpanelli.