HEALTH BENEFITS
By Gretchen Abendschein
During the Budget Committee Public Hearing an issue that was the focus of much attention is the fact that the town of Acworth offers 100% health insurance benefits to laborers in our highway department. Some people in town argue that this is a highly unusual practice for a small municipality.
Every year the NH Local Government Center publishes a comparative wage, salary and benefits survey for municipalities in the state. Of the towns with a population under 1,000 that submit data to the survey, nineteen municipalities offer health benefits to their highway workers. Thirteen of those offer 100% coverage, three offer 90% and three offer 80%. Acworth is by no means in the minority when offering 100% coverage to our highway workers.
Seven towns with a population under 1,000 offer no health insurance benefits to their highway workers. All of these towns have only one part-time road agent and no other highway laborers with one exception, Randolph, which has a part-time road agent and one part-time road worker. All seven municipalities have a very small network of town-maintained roads, from a low of six miles in Chatham to a high of eighteen miles in Albany. Compare that to Acworth which has 56 miles of town-maintained roads over very rugged and steep terrain.
Acworth has offered 100% health benefits to our highway workers since before our senior selectman, Tom Esslinger, became a board member in 2002.
Toward the end of 2009 Acworth selectmen voted to change heath insurance providers in order to get a lower premium than what was being offered by the previous provider.
Selectmen are just beginning the process of developing a health benefits policy for the town.
Below is a list of NH towns with a population less than 1,000 that shows the amount of health coverage each municipality offers their highway workers. The name of the town is followed by the latest population estimate by the NH Office of Energy and Planning and the percent of health coverage offered. Click on the name of each town to compare demographics.
Acworth – 902 – 100%
Bath – 964 – 100%
Carroll – 788 – 80%
Croydon – 780 – 90%
Dummer – 345 – 80%
Gilsum – 809 – 100%
Goshen – 818 – 90%
Groton – 514 – 100%
Hebron – 545 – 100%
Jackson – 865 – 100%
Lyman – 562 – 100%
Marlow – 767 – 100%
Monroe – 823 – 100%
Newington – 787 – 100%
Shelburne – 384 – 80 %
Stark – 516 – 90%
Sugar Hill – 642 – 100%
Warren – 939 – 100%
Washington – 995 – 100%
The information in this article about health coverage offered by each town is from the 2009 Wage, Salary & Benefits Survey for Municipalities. A copy of this publication is available in the Acworth Town Hall.