Three elected officials in Benton Township could start receiving compensation for not taking the township’s insurance following action Tuesday by the board of trustees.
At their regular meeting, trustees were told Supervisor Cathy Yates has requested the option of payments in lieu of health, dental, and eye insurance for herself, Clerk Carolyn Phillips, and Treasurer Debbie Boothby. The payments would be $732 per month, or 80% of the insurance cost to the township.
Yates made a similar request last year, but was turned down by the board of trustees. With a new board now in place, she tried again. She told us there are plenty of employers that allow employees to take a payment instead of receiving insurance.
“A few people on this board are so set that they want to go back to the old way of doing things,” Yates said. ‘”Nobody ever had it. Nobody did this.’ I’m doing things no other supervisor ever did. This township is moving forward and I’m going to take it there.”
Yates, Phillips, and Boothby all recused themselves during the discussion and vote, leaving it up to the other four trustees. Linda Scarbrough opposed the proposal, saying it amounts to a raise. She told us it will lead to other problems.
“It will in the end, it could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars because it opens the door for any employee, whether it’s elected official, whether it’s an admin one, anybody that’s in the water department, any employee period,” Scarbrough said.
The other three trustees felt otherwise, with Joseph Taylor saying police officers and firefighters have the same option Yates was proposing. Many of them take the option because they’re young enough to get insurance from their parents.
The vote was three to one to allow the payment in lieu of insurance. Yates told us this is the modern way of doing business that actually saves the township money.
