At the May 21 Stevensville Committee of the Whole meeting, the only agenda item was the employee insurance package for the 2015-2016 fiscal year. The current employees have health, eye and dental insurance. Once again, one of the three options brought up by council member Bill Perrin was to vote on a permissive levy to help offset the rising costs of insurance. The Town of Stevi employees have already received a substantial raise in their wages and one would think they could share some of the cost as the insurance rates have increased and will continue to do so every year.
My thought is so many folks, families, and senior citizens cannot continue to absorb yet another levy. With the upcoming water and sewer rate hikes and the unknown cost of our new recycling bin it seems quite a burden to us all! Mr. Perrin stated if the permissive levy is voted and passed we may never need it, but if we did it would be in place. My question is, if we do not need it why would the council vote on it now?
Folks, once again, when a permissive levy is passed it never goes away. It will be used and the rate of it will increase each year over time. Have you ever heard of insurance rates going down? No, they go up every year.
Time is of the essence here as this will be voted on at our next Town Council Meeting at City Hall on May 28, 2015 at 7:00 p.m. Please come if you can! If you can’t, contact the mayor, your council person or simply write a little note on your thoughts and get it to city hall.
We do NOT need another permissive levy. We cannot afford it with all the other tax raises coming down the pipe soon.
Robert Michalson
Stevensville