The Summit County Council approved a self-funded insurance program Wednesday night that is estimated to save taxpayers $700,000 a year.
Encompassing county employees, the Snyderville Basin Special Recreation District, Mountain Regional Water Special Service District and the Park City Fire District, employees will pay into a general fund, which will then be used to cover insurance claims.
The Park City Fire District was the only entity against the plan, saying it would rather keep its current insurance program until the county’s proves to be the better option.
“We are not trying to separate from the group, but five years ago we worked really hard to set up our insurance program and it is working really well for us,” said Park City Fire Chief Paul Hewitt. “Why tear down a successful insurance program? We want to run parallel to the county’s program for a few years and then if their model is successful, we will join and this conversation will never have to be had again.”
Summit County Councilor Chris Robinson said the countywide program would slightly raise the Fire District’s insurance cost, but the point of the plan was to save the taxpayers money.
“If you run a program parallel to ours, what information are we really going to gain?” Robinson said. “We already know you guys are a smaller group and healthier group. But the point is combining everyone together and spreading out the risk. That’s what insurance is.”
Andy Armstong, with Mountain Regional Water, said the company had been left out on its own in the past when it came to insurance and it had cost its rate-payers a significant amount of money.
“These four entities all have different categories of tax payers,” said County Councilor Sally Elliott. “And some people who only pay taxes to one entity may not see a difference, but those in all four districts will see a noticeable tax decrease and those are the people we need to take into consideration.”
The County Council voted unanimously to create a self-fund insurance program using SelectHealth as its provider, with an estimated cost of $3.7 million a year compared to the current $4.5 million.