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Monday they voted to authorize health insurance for the road commissioners equal to what the county board receives. In addition road commissioners who take the health insurance buyout will receive the same compensation as county commissioners. Road commissioners will be responsible for paying 25% of the premium cost and pay the difference if they want the better policy.

The county pays 75% of the cost of a PPO 3 plan for county commissioners and those who take the buyout receive half of that 75%. Currently the road commission pays the total cost of a PPO 1 plan for the road commissioners and the commissioner who takes the buyout receives 50% of the insurance cost, which is the same as the road commission employees get. The present cost for insurance for two road commissioners and a buyout for the third is $31,976.52. It costs the county $8,600 per commissioner and spouse.

Under the new policy, the road commissioners will receive a PPO 15 wrapped to a PPO3, with a $10-$20 prescription co-pay, $500-$1,000 maximum out of pocket with the equivalent 50% buyout. The new policy will be effective Nov. 1.

The county and road commissioners receive the same salaries, $6,000 per year for commissioners and $6,500 for the chairmen.

They discussed covering the road commissioners under the county plan as long as the road board reimburses the county since the same plan is not available under the road commission's package.

"They are the only elected officials not under our plan...I cannot justify giving them double what we have," said Commissioner William Walters during the Sept. 4 Finance Committee meeting.

Commissioner Gary Russell noted it is not right to take away benefits a person was promised when he ran for office. He voted against the changes.

"No one can take ours away," he added.

"We can reduce our benefits at any time," said Walters, who knows a previous board did just that.

"Legally there was no package in place when they ran for office," he added.

County Administrator John Males explained the law making the county board responsible for setting the road commissioners' salaries and benefits has not changed.

"Somehow a previous administrator said it changed based on something he heard from someone in the road commission," Males explained.

The mistake originated in January 1999 when then Road Commission Chairman Jerome Essenmacher told the county commissioners the state attorney general said road boards did not have to get permission for administrative expenditures out of their weight and gas tax funds, and that commissioners' compensation was an administrative expense.

Then the road commissioners directed their accountant to start adding an extra $1,500 to their salaries without voting on the raise because they had included the increases in the 1999 budget. Road Commissioners hadn't had a raise for 10 years at that time.

The county commissioners had denied two requests from the road board for a raise in the fall of 1998 after the road commissioners submitted inaccurate salary and health insurance information. The county board was also critical of the health insurance package the road commissioners received, which included retiree insurance until a couple years ago.