Greenport Village Board to vote on health insurance compromise
Greenport Village Mayor George Hubbard is proposing a “compromise” to allow elected officials to continue to receive healthcare benefits.
During Thursday’s work session, Mr. Hubbard said he’s sponsoring a resolution to allow trustees to receive individual coverage — but they’ll have to pay out-of-pocket for family plans as of Jan. 1.
Plans cost about $9,000 for an individual and $22,000 for a family, he said after the meeting.
“It’s a compromise between having nothing to totally paid,” the mayor said. “It’s in the middle.”
The move comes a couple of months after the Greenport Village Board voted down a plan to end benefits currently available to the mayor and trustees, both part-time positions, as well as anyone elected to the board in the future. Deputy mayor Jack Martilotta and Trustee Doug Roberts voted in favor of the proposal.
In April, Mr. Martilotta and Mr. Roberts sponsored similar legislation to end health benefits for Village Board members. That measure also failed by the same 3-2 split vote.
Earlier this year, board members said that while they’re currently taking the village’s offer, which has been available since 1992, they would likely be switching to different plans soon. Mr. Hubbard has said Village Board members haven’t received salary increases since 2007 since they were receiving health benefits.
The mayor has said he’s purchased his own plan and will no longer take the village’s benefits. Ms. Robins has said she plans to reduce her coverage Dec. 1 from a family plan to a single plan. Ms. Phillips currently accepts benefits and has said she didn’t take them for the first four years she was in office.
The Village Board is expected to vote on the resolution at the Nov. 30 regular meeting.
