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Wednesday, February 02, 2000 Page: 12A
In an unsettling age of dizzying change, when people switch jobs at the
drop of a hat, computers are outmoded before they’re out of the box and half
of all new marriages are destined for divorce court, at least there’s one
thing that endures.
Elect a Wilkes-Barre city council member and it’s ’til death do us part –
when it comes to health coverage.
As if the free health insurance offered to council members wasn’t
outrageous enough, city officials revealed this week that taxpayers are now
supplying lifelong health coverage for former elected officials who have
served for 10 years or more. The change, which went into effect eight several
ago, now applies only to former council member Phil McCabe, who did not seek
re-election in 1999, and former mayor and council member Lee Namey.
While the $11,640 it costs to cover McCabe and Namey is only a tiny
fraction of the city’s $3.2 million annual health insurance bill, it’s easy to
imagine the cost snowballing over the years as premiums increase and more and
more elected officials become eligible.
It’s bad enough that taxpayers cough up $43,600 annually to provide current
council members’ Blue Cross coverage and to pay buyouts of more than $1,000 to
members who decline health coverage. What other part-time job carries such
extravagant coverage at no expense to the employee? Several council members
even had the gall to complain recently when Mayor Thomas McGroarty proposed
they be given an option of choosing a less-expensive HMO at the city’s full
expense or paying the difference to maintain Blue Cross coverage.
We believe the city should abolish coverage for all council members,
current and former, and any coverage for a mayor once he or she leaves office.
Running the city of Wilkes-Barre has become a full-time job and the sitting
mayor deserves coverage. But council members are already handsomely rewarded
for attending about two dozen meetings per year. Each council member is paid
$11,389 annually – $13,308 for the chairman – plus an $85-per-month gas
allowance.
Taxpayers shouldn’t be saddled with supplying free lifetime health
insurance on top of that.