Three city unions for the city of North Adams say that the city has not been forthcoming in providing requested information, failing to correctly put to use a legally mandated Insurance Advisory Committee.
North Adams Teachers Union president Susan Chilson says that the advisory committee, traditionally consists of the mayor, treasurer and representatives from the unions, and that it should meet to talk about the health of the medical insurance trust fund, reviewing the claims costs before any rate increases are discussed and before they go into effect. She says that in essence, the committee has existed for years, but that there has been no discussion, with rate increases for premium costs of health plans just being handed out.
Following what amounts to months of requests for information, the unions have put together several years of insurance trust numbers, and had them examined by an independent consultant.
Chilson says that based on the numbers that they were able to attain, it is clear that the employees paid more than their fair share.
She said the city’s unions are looking for greater transparency from city officials.
Because of this to are requesting that an independent audit be carried out that looks into the operations of the fund, as opposed to just looking at matching payments paid out by the city’s employees.
Richard J. Alcombright, the city councilor who is challenging Mayor Barrett for his seat this year, says that it was several weeks ago when he first learned of the unions' concerns and when he met with representatives from each group.
Alcombright says that it appears to be simply a continuation from what was going on last March, when issues involving the GIC were still ongoing. He says that even though the city undergos a mandated audit, he questions whether the audit addresses if the trust is fully funded and how funds are allocated. As a city councilor he says, he can say that he receives a budget each week and sees money is being spent, but he also suggests that many of the city council’s members do not know how the trust fund works.
He feels that this is definitely something the council's finance committee should and taking a look at. Acombright thinks that the unions have assembled a significant package that is worthy of the finance committee's attention.
When the city's seven unions were together trying to press the city into joining the GIC (the state Group Insurance Commission ) in October, by the Dec. 1 enrollment deadline, citing a potential $1.5 million savings for the city, Alcombright was still cautious about joining their cause.
He says that at that time he met with the mayor and the city's interim treasurer regarding the issue. He says that although he does not know how much, some savings would be made by joining. He says that the major problem at that time was that the governor was making emergency 9c cuts and that he took $30 million from the GIC budget. At that time he had decided it was better to wait to see how the other communities were doing.