WOODSTOCK – Selectmen on Tuesday said they are planning to ask voters to change the amount the town pays for health insurance for its employees’ dependents.
The change would be presented in the March 28 town meeting article.
The board is proposing that employees pick up 10 percent of the cost of health insurance premiums for their dependents.
Selectman Leon Poland said past attempts to change the policy have failed.
“Perhaps when they see the $60,000 we are going to have to raise this year they will be more willing to see the policy changed,” Chairman Steve Bies said.
The town now pays 100 percent of the health insurance premiums for its employees and their dependents.
Selectmen plan to meet with all employees of the town to discuss the issue Feb. 15.
Road Commissioner Vern Maxfield told selectmen the town’s salt supply is holding up this winter.
“We have had eight loads delivered so far. Each load holds 30 tons of salt for a total of 240 tons. We seem to be in pretty good shape right now,” said Maxfield, who is town manager. “That amount is about what we have ordered in the past, but of course we don’t know what the rest of the winter will be like.”
“The problem so far,” Poland said, “has been so many little storms during which you still have to plow and treat the roads. A 2-inch storm costs just as much as a storm that drops a foot of snow at once. So I hope we won’t get too many more storms the rest of the winter or we may have to order more salt before the winter is over.”
There have been 14 snowstorms since Nov. 21 with the largest being about 5 inches and the smallest an inch.
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