May 21, 2007 By Patty Yauger 4 min read

CONNELLSVILLE – Despite a contribution to the monthly price of their health insurance, Connellsville taxpayers continue to pay the bulk of the cost for city employees, according to figures recently released by the city clerk. For the first time since benefits were allotted to city employees, members of the AFL-CIO-CLC Local Union 13836-23 will pay $20 toward their individual health package this year and $30 monthly in 2008.

The contact with the non-uniformed city workers was ratified in April, nearly three years after the eight-member union notified the city of their intent to unionize.

Members of the union include bookkeeper Dorothy Fosbrink, administrative secretary Katrina Angell, tax office clerk Paula Childs, police department administrative assistant Janine Brooks, recreation department foreman George Kosisko, along with part-time workers, tax office clerk Barbara Hennessey, custodian Jimmy Smith and recreation department worker William Critchfield. Hennessey, Smith and Critchfield do not receive health-related benefits due to their part time or seasonal status.

Neither city clerk Toni Tesauro nor health officer Rita Bornstein are members of the union, but do receive insurance benefits.

According to the figures produced by Tesauro, Kosisko and Brooks receive basic dental and optical insurance along with health and hospitalization insurance for them and family members at a monthly cost of $1,282 prior to their contribution. Fosbrink’s insurance benefit package costs city taxpayers $1,185 monthly, while Childs’ and Angell’s costs total $440 each month for individual plans.

For less than 30-cents per month for each full-time employee, the city provides a $15,000 life insurance policy and a similar amount accidental death and dismemberment insurance policy. The employee is additionally covered by an accident and sickness policy which pays 70-percent of their respective wages for a 26-week period.

In the city contract, meanwhile, office personnel will receive a one-hour paid lunch break included in the 8-hour workday while field personnel will be paid for a one-half hour lunch break.

Any employee exceeding a 40-hour work week will be paid time and a half for overtime. If an employee is called out for emergency work, he will be paid for a minimum of four overtime hours, according to the contract.

The city workers covered in the new agreement will be paid for 10 holidays including New Year’s, Martin Luther King Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and the Friday following the holiday and Christmas Day plus three personal days.

Full-time workers with up to two years of service will receive five days of paid vacation, while those with 3 to 5 years, 10 days; 6 to 15 years, 15 days and over 16 years, 20 days.

Salaries established in the new agreement gives Kosisko a 2007 salary of $33,584 and $34,423 in 2008; Angell, $16,400 and $16,810, respectively; Fosbrink, $23,697 and $24,289; Childs, $15,281 and $15,663 and Brooks, $25,792 in 2007 and $26,437 in 2008.

A longevity benefit allotted to full-time employees in the past will continue only for Childs, Brooks, Fosbrink and Kosisko. Childs and Brooks will receive $60 per month for their service to the city; Fosbrink, $50 per month and Kosisko, $30 per month, according to the contract.

Future employees will not receive the added benefit.

The full-time employees are also entitled to three days off with pay due to the death of an immediate family member and a paid day off for the funeral of an uncle, aunt, brother- or sister-in-law, according to the contract.

Additionally, the workers will receive 10 sick days with pay in 2007 and no more than 30 days in 2008.

Part-time workers Smith, Hennessey and Critchfield are entitled to three sick days and two personal days per year provided they have accumulated five years of tenure with the city, according to the pact. New part-time employees will not be eligible for the benefit.

In the agreement, Smith will receive a salary of $10,984 in 2007 and $11,258 in 2008; Critchfield, $17,746 and $18,190 respectively and Hennessey, $4,100 in 2007 and $4,202 in 2008.

The city continues to negotiate an agreement with police department officers. The current contract expired in December. The matter has been referred to arbitration.

Councilman and city financial director Terry Bodes said, “All other contracts will be negotiated with insurance contributions from employees.”

“This is something we must do to provide optimum insurance coverage with lower cost to the city,” he said. “It’s the only way the city can afford to continue providing this level of insurance.”