pCANTON — Reducing or restructuring health care benefits for active and retired St. Lawrence County employees may be considered by county lawmakers as they struggle to reduce ballooning health care costs./ppThe county’s new Financial Planning Committee has asked the county’s Health Committee to examine ways to better control health insurance costs./pp“The board clearly identified the need to better control health care costs in the near and long term,” said County Planning Office Director Keith J. Zimmerman./ppContracting with a private insurance company rather than continuing the self-insurance program the county has operated for decades is one possibility. Other possibilities include expansion of the shared risk pool./pp“All of those things can and should be looked at,” Mr. Zimmerman said./ppHe said the New York State Association of Counties will be releasing research it conducted regarding how the cost of retiree benefits can be lowered without impacting quality of care./ppOver the past five years, the county’s health expenses have risen by about 6 percent each year, going from $16.8 million in 2010 to $23.5 million in 2015. Between 2014 and 2015, costs climbed by $2.3 million./ppLast year’s $23,471,062 expenses exceeded the $20.75 million allocated in 2014./ppThe Financial Planning Committee also plans to discuss the history of sales tax and how those revenues have been used./ppThe legislature also has established a legislative agenda that highlights six priorities county lawmakers want state lawmakers to consider. /ppA group of county legislators plans to travel to Albany within the next several weeks to personally deliver a resolution adopted Monday evening that asks state lawmakers to approve the following six priorities for St. Lawrence County:/ppspan class="bullet"n/span Assume the financial obligation for the provision of indigent defense services and related expenses./ppspan class="bullet"n/span Retain the local differential in Department of Social Services safety net payments./ppspan class="bullet"n/span Amend legislation to allow video court appearances and arraignments for the accused in pending criminal matters, saving both time and effort by staff from a variety of county departments and minimizing movement in and out of correctional facilities./ppspan class="bullet"n/span Establish a commitment to Consolidated Highway Improvement Program (CHIPS) funding to allow for better local capital planning and investments./ppspan class="bullet"n/span Increase the local share of Department of Motor Vehicles revenues for county clerks to 25 percent of the established fee./ppspan class="bullet"n/span Fund the demolition and restoration of the former J&L Steel plant in Star Lake as a state project to eliminate a severe and long-term blighted site from the Adirondacks./p
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