Metro news
Teachers and other state employees are not happy with a proposal from the Public Employees Insurance Agency Finance Board to not subsidize health insurance coverage for new employees after they retire starting in 2010. They expressed their concerns with the finance board's plan Monday night in Charleston.
Delegate Josh Stowers of Lincoln County was among the many asking the Finance Board to keep that subsidy available to new hires. Stowers, who is also an assistant principal in addition to a legislator, says he knows first hand how hard it is to recruit teachers and this plan hinders that by taking away another benefit.
"I talk to recent graduates everyday as we're trying to hire teachers who are leaving the state by the dozens. We can't attract them" says Stowers. "They want to stay. They were born and raised here, but they can't financially do it."
Judy Hale, the President of West Virginia's branch of the American Federation of Teachers, agrees. She even goes so far as to say the proposal as it stands is illegal.
"The board actually passed this motion in an emergency meeting which was not announced to the public and was not on the agenda for the meeting. We have a question as to whether the motion itself is legal," says Hale.
The AFT-WV plans on filing suit if this measure is passed. Secretary of Administration and PEIA Finance Board Chairman Robert Ferguson says the board's legal counsel has already reviewed the measure and is prepared for any legal action.
He also says so far no one has proposed anything to deal with the nearly $6 billion in unfunded liability the state has to pay, but that doesn't mean they’ve stopped looking for ideas.
"I want to give this more time because we've got some more public hearings. There might be another way to tackle this thing, but right now, we're in a hole and we keep digging it everyday," Ferguson says.
In addition, PEIA presented a plan to take $28 million from a trust fund to pay down part of a post-employment benefit debt as PEIA searches for a new Medicare Advantage Provider.
The Finance Board will vote on those proposals July 30th.