Carroll County Comet

Popular Categories

New plan helps Flora trim insurance costs





A change in employee insurance is expected to save the Town of Flora over $140,000 next year. The new plan, with the same provider through Norris Insurance, Flora, offers individual health savings accounts (HSA).

An HSA is used to offset a higher deductible that will be $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families.

According to Clerk-Treasurer Joretta Tinsman at Monday night’s town council meeting, the current plan is costing the town $21,614.49 per month with the combined employee contribution $2,071.77 per month. With the new plan, the cost per month for the town will be $9,915.26 with employees contributing ten percent of the health care premium only, $891.44. Life insurance and disability insurance are separate.

With part of the savings, the town will put $1,100 per individual and $2,200 per family into the HSA. Individuals and families may use monies in the HSA toward their deductible.

“After everything, our projected savings for the town with this new plan should be nearly $88,000,” said Tinsman.

Nineteen employees are on the town’s insurance plan.

An information meeting for employees about the new plan will be held at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 11 in the Community Center.

Council president Josh Ayres announced that the town purchased the Abdon lots on West Main Street for $16,000. The real estate closing will be Dec. 22.

“We don’t have concrete plans yet for the property, but we thought we should have it for future expansion,” Ayres aid.

The town clock is in need of repair. Estimated cost to fix the clock is $287, plus parts. The council agreed to pay Verdin Company $475 to perform preventative maintenance on the clock twice during 2007. Needed parts will be extra.

The Community Center is back in operation with Senior Citizens, Midland Meals and Flora Apartments office. “It’s pretty much restored,” said Ayres. “Some replacement furniture has been ordered and we still need some decorative items.”

Police activity for November included: 5 arrests/misdemeanors, 4 felonies, 28 citations, 78 warnings, 100 calls for service, and 2 accidents.

Town Marshal Paul Redmon said that beginning the first of the year his department will be issuing citations for parking and nuisance violations.

The town plan commission approved a handicapped ramp, submitted by Richard Brown, and a garage for Lester L. Sterling.

The park department purchased 17 news trees at a cost of $3,145 and replaced all toilet stools in the park restrooms at a cost of $4,214.82.

A two-year trash contract was awarded to Clinton County Disposal at a cost of $192,149. The contract runs from Jan. 1, 2007, through Dec. 31, 2008.

Fire contracts were accepted for both Carrollton and Monroe townships.

The town appointed Dana Troup-Meeks to another four-year term on the Flora-Monroe Public Library board.

Wastewater superintendent Bill McCarty recently attended the annual IWEA Conference, while Greg Barnes and Rob Buttice attended a safety meeting.

ESI will begin removing the tank at the former Brethren’s Home on Monday. Funds are being provided through a Brownsfield grant.

Town officials approved their meeting schedule for 2007. The council will continue to meet the first Monday night of each month at 6 p.m., except in January and September when the meetings conflict with national holidays. Those meetings will be held the second Monday of the month at 6 p.m.

Eleven holidays will be observed by town employees in 2007.

The town office will be closed all day Dec. 25 and Jan. 1.

The council will hold a year-end meeting at 6 p.m. Dec. 27. The next regular meeting will be Jan. 8 at 6 p.m.


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.