About 75 Orland Park employees will shoulder more of their health insurance costs under two separate bargaining-unit compensation and benefit agreements approved this week by the Village Board.
The May 1, 2011-April 30, 2015 agreements with police dispatchers, telecommunications operators, and public works and building maintenance employees and upper police management:
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** increase required employee contributions to participate in conventional preferred provider organization health plans,
** provide financial incentives to employees to switch to consumer-directed plans or managed-care plans,
** provide village funding of 40 percent of the deductible for high deductible health plans with health savings accounts and
** require employee participation in annual wellness and health risk assessment screenings in order to qualify for best rates.
In addition, the assistant police chief and commanders must now continue paying into their individual HMO plans when they retire. Retirees previously paid nothing.
The program was already in place for approximately 95 employees at the time of the trustee meeting.
Prior to the Dec. 17 board action, Village Manager Paul Grimes termed employee health insurance costs “the single biggest purchase service” the village makes.
“We’ve been going at a rate of 10 percent (increase) a year; everything else is 2 percent,” Grimes said. Health-insurance costs are “crowding out everything else now.” Had that rate continued, he said, the village would have had to reduce services, cut salaries or increase taxes.
Grimes previously praised employee union leaders, during an October budget meeting, for recognizing the problem posed by rising health insurance costs.
But the two agreements don’t leave employees empty handed.
The police dispatchers, telecommunications operators, and public works and building maintenance employees represented by American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 368 receive a retroactive 1.75 percent pay increase for the contract’s first year—with additional annual raises adding 7.8 percent during the contract’s life.
Their agreement also increases the hourly shift differential from 50 cents to 75 cents, boosts the annual tool allowance from $500 to $750 and expands bereavement leave to include the deaths of in-laws.
The Orland Park Police Supervisors Association agreement gives the assistant police chief and three police commanders a 1 percent retroactive pay increase, with a total 8.5 percent pay increase over the agreement’s life.
In addition, the OPPSA agreement guarantees a one-time $2,000 range adjustment for the assistant chief position and a one-time $1,500 range adjustment for each commander position and increases annual longevity incentive pay and annual educational incentives.
Village Manager Paul Grimes told trustees the OPPSA agreement was intended “to mirror” the agreement already in place for the dozen supervisors it represents.
Orland Park has 262 full-time employees, with five bargaining units representing 187 of them. Four of the units have four-year agreements in place. The Metropolitan Alliance of Police, whose 77 patrol officer-members who have worked without a contract since April 30 is in arbitration.