Town weighs insurance for official

By ZACH SUBAR/The Leader-Herald

BROADALBIN - The town may look to purchase new health insurance for Highway Superintendent Donald Loveless after a dispute between the board, its union-based insurance provider and Loveless resulted in his insurance being terminated.

On Dec. 29, the Town Board approved a new contract with its union-based health-insurance provider, Teamsters Union, that required those covered by that insurance to contribute 10 percent of the plan for single coverage and 15 percent for family coverage.

In 1988, the Town Board decided the highway superintendent would receive health-insurance benefits for maintaining the transfer station. Loveless received union benefits even though he was not a union member, and he was not required to contribute to his health plan.

The new plan costs $1,426 per month, and Loveless would have to pay $99 of that for his family coverage. He refused to contribute, saying the department budget he filed in September contained the old insurance plan. Supervisor Lee Hollenbeck said he offered Loveless a 4 percent raise to offset the cost, but he said Loveless denied the offer.

Loveless' attorney, Carmel Greco, sent a letter to the board last month stating the Highway Department would stop plowing the town's municipal complex and its transfer station Jan. 20 if health-insurance related deductions were not returned to Loveless' paycheck. The board passed resolutions Jan. 14 restoring the deductions to Loveless' paycheck and requiring him to continue plowing the areas.

Loveless said he never stopped plowing, but he received a letter from the Teamsters Union Jan. 26 informing him his insurance would be terminated Jan. 31. He now has no insurance, and in a recent letter to the board he said the town must find him new insurance.

"If something happens to my family, or my children, they're going to have to deal with it," Loveless said Tuesday. "Just because there's no insurance doesn't mean they're not responsible."

He and his lawyer cite a state law, established from a previous case, that stipulates "the compensation of an elected town official cannot be lowered during his or her term of office without the Town Board passing a local law, subject to a mandatory referendum," as Greco put it.

At a meeting Tuesday, Town Attorney Kara Lais said she was inquiring with state officials whether "compensation" included benefits or merely referred to salary.

Lais said she was unsure whether a court would find the town liable for any medical expenses Loveless could incur, but she said she would investigate further.

"It's a pretty precarious fall if we have a big liability hanging out there," board member Joseph DiGiacomo said.

Hollenbeck recommended the town look into purchasing Loveless an insurance plan through the Fulton County Regional Chamber of Commerce & Industry, which would cost the town about $1,200 a month. Loveless would not need to contribute to that plan, but board members said the plan is inferior to the union plan.

"I think he's going to deny it. If he denies it, and says no, I'd feel more comfortable in the courts," said Hollenbeck. "I think it would look more favorable."

The board will decide whether to offer Loveless the plan Tuesday. Hollenbeck and board member Dan Wheeler will be absent from that meeting, leaving three board members.

Loveless said he will continue to plow the areas until the matter is resolved. He was re-elected to a four-year term in 2007.

Zach Subar covers rural Fulton County news. He can be reached at ruralnews@leaderherald.com