Insurance Increase Mucking With Schools' Budget

The Carroll County School System is likely to amend the current year’s budget after the department of community health increases monthly employer costs for classified health insurance - an additional $40 per employee. Schools CFO Greg Denney says the increase adds an additional $300,000 to the system’s already tight budget. “Medical health insurance is affecting everybody right now. The cost is skyrocketing,” he says. “But, what they’re doing now is passing this along to us in August, when we’ve already set our millage rate and set our budget. They are passing along a $300,000 increase that we have to accept because we receive state money.”

Denney says the school system is now urging the state to get these type of notices “to us during the budget process instead of after it.”

This is the second increase for employer costs since last year, says Denney. Last year, the cost per employee was $162 per month whereas; now the per-employee cost is $296 monthly.