County Employees Pay 21% of Health Benefits Cost

This evening at five, the Human Services Committee will meet to consider employee health insurance costs, among other topics.

This coming year, employees paid out of the General Fund will contribute

  • $2,329,999

Taxpayers will pay the rest:

  • $12,392,849

All those on the McHenry County payroll will be billed

  • $4,337,025

The taxpayers will be paying

  • $16,481,270

Here’s what County Board members will be asked to pay:

  • $63,014

County taxpayers will pick up the rest:

  • $321,559

That means County employees, including County Board members pay less than 21% of the cost of their health benefits.

The cost of health coverage is going to be 5% more than last year.


Comments

County Employees Pay 21% of Health Benefits Cost — 18 Comments

  1. County board clean your own house before you attempt to eliminate Townships and their services.

    Shame on you

  2. County board, consider yourselves chastised severely by the self righteous township people!!!

    It can be painful but always consider the source.

    They are a little psycho right now because people might have the opportunity to speak for themselves.

    Try to take it with a grain of salt and thanks for not increasing your levy 3 years in a row.

    We common folk do notice these things!!

  3. County board get a grip less than 20 hours per month you really should not be getting a pension or health benefits or any fringe benefit the county defines part time as 30 hours per week how is it all of you are exempt from policy

  4. Hey! truckin561:

    How about recognizing the County Board RAISED their levy which some Townships and even some municipalities REDUCED theirs!

  5. When ACA Cadillac Health Plan excise taxes begin in a couple years, taxpayers will be paying 40% excise taxes on the amount these health plans exceed the maximum allowable prices set by the ACA.

    But on top of the 40% excise tax, there will be the unanswered question of whose responsibility it is to pay the taxes on the taxes…

    If the employee has been deemed to have received a taxable fringe benefit from employer, but has had the taxes on the fringe benefit paid for by employer, then the employee will be deemed to have received the amount of the taxes paid on his behalf as income.

    If the employer ‘picks up’ the tax obligation for that ‘extra income’ (phantom income) on behalf of employee, then the employer has to pay that tax in addition to the excise tax.

    And that repeats over and over until amount due approaches zero.

    Because this ‘taxable fringe benefit’ issue is complicated and ambiguous, this issue will probably be decided by high courts years after the tax year in which excise taxes and taxes on employee fringe benefit tax ‘pick-ups’ have been paid, there will potentially be years of back taxes owed by somebody after the highest court ruling.

    And years of interest on the back-taxes owed, and possibly penalties will be owed in addition.

    Either employees themselves or taxpayers will be on the hook for that.

    So taxpayers should demand that the budget now includes an escrow set aside fund for this new expected large expense, and that costs are cut in other areas to ensure that taxpayers can continue to provide public employees this Cadillac healthcare and all the special excise taxes (and taxes on those taxes) it will cost to provide it.

  6. This is the reason God HAS to come back to straighten this world out.

    I have NO health insurance, but yet I am forced to pay money I DON’T have so that leeches can have theirs.

  7. Questioning, maybe you should check you tax bills and correct your statement to reflect the truth.

    Are you sure you live in mchenry county ???????

  8. A description of the first two categories of employees would be helpful.

    That being, employees paid out of the general revenue fund, and all those on the McHenry County payroll.

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Employee Contribution + Employer Contribution = Total Contribution

    Employees Paid out of the General Fund
    $2,329,999 + $12,392,849 = $14,722,848

    all those on the McHenry County Payroll
    $4,337,025 + $16,481,270 = $20,818,295

    County Board Members
    $63,014 + $321,559 = 384,573

    +++++++++++++++++++++++

    Employee Contribution / Total Contribution = Employee Contribution %

    Employees Paid out of the General Fund
    $2,329,999 / $14,722,848 = 16%

    all those on the McHenry County Payroll
    $4,337,025 / $20,818,295 = 21%

    County Board Members
    $63,014 / 384,573 = 16%

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

  9. truckin561 I do my own research and it is not restricted to my tax bill.

    This year McHenry County will collect an additional $338,839.64

    . Twenty nine other units of government in McHenry County lowered their property tax burden by $866,628.98.

    Those entities were primarily Township and Municipal government units.

    If you want to know who, do your own research.

    Even the County Conservation District lowered their levy.

  10. Don’t you just love how easily the public is manipulated?

    The title says it all: “County Employees Pay 21% of Health Benefits Cost”

    YOU, the TAXPAYER pay it all!!!

    Public sector employees pay nothing!!

    Hopefully they live in this state and pay property tax but even that is not necessarily so.

  11. BTW What a system.

    You pay property tax to fund public sector salaries used to to employ people in the public sector.

    They too pay property tax to fund a portion of their own salaries in many cases.

    Who wins?

    The puppeteers who pull the strings of the elected officials.

    The puppeteers who fund campaigns for candidates.

  12. Questioning the county portion on my tax bill has not increased for three years

  13. Numbers guy you are wrong.

    County employees DO pay a portion of their health insurance.

  14. Just curious on: You too have been manipulated.

    The only way a public sector employee can pay part of their benefits is to also have a job in the private sector and reimburse the County with some of those earnings.

    The ENTIRE compensation package for public sector employees is funded by the taxpayers.

  15. truckin561 Here is a list of recent annual levies by the County:

    2014 $78,966,290.00
    2013 $78,627,450.00
    2012 $78,535,191.10
    2011 $78,285,064.00
    2010 $76,846,500.10
    2009 $74,443,779.00
    2008 $73,587,785.00
    2007 $69,497,238.00

  16. Numbers guy is right.

    Taking it out of this pocket to put in that pocket is a hoot.

    Don’t think everyone got your point that none of it is sourced elsewhere.

  17. BTW While the County increased their tax levy from $69,497,238 to $78,966,290, we lost population and real estate values have plummeted by one third.

    During the same time period the Prevailing Wage Rate for a Laborer went from $47.02 per hour to $64.40 per hour.

    This may explain why the County had some of the increase.

  18. So where does the money go that’s taken out of a public employee’s paycheck for health insurance?

    Maybe I’m just dumb, but I don’t get it.

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