West Jordan approves $200K to pay for rising insurance costs

West Jordan • The City Council voted unanimously in favor of a measure to budget an extra $200,000 to pay for city employee insurance in the face of rising premium rates.

Premium rates increased 8.7 percent since last year, and West Jordan wants to pick up the tab for its employees.

Currently, West Jordan offers two insurance plans for employees, both a traditional and a high-deductible option. The traditional option will be kept at a 50-50 pay match between the city and the insurance holders. The high-deductible plan will have a 90-10 split for family plans and a 100 percent city payment for single plans.

As of 2013, twice as many West Jordan city employees hold the high-deductible option as the traditional.

"Most city workers haven't had a break in a long time," said Ray Wickens, vice president of the American Federal of State, County and Municipal Employees. "This is going to be good for everybody. City workers will have more disposable income, and the public will get better service."

djsummers@sltrib.com

Twitter: @djsummersmma