Bath Supervisors Approve Change To County Employee Health Insurance

Warm Springs, Va – On Tuesday night the Bath Board of Supervisors approved a new health insurance plan for county employees. The county is staying with United Healthcare, but is going with a different plan for the next fiscal year. This new plan has a 13% increase in cost, while the current plan would have had a 30% increase for next year.

The new plan has a higher deductible, higher co-pay and includes a deductible on prescriptions. The dental insurance for county employees will remain the same as it is this year. With the cost increase, Bath will be paying $1.7 million dollars next fiscal year for health insurance for county employees.

The board held a public hearing Tuesday night on the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Secondary Six Year Construction Plan for Bath. No one spoke during the public hearing and the board unanimously adopted the plan. Some funding is already applied to projects and no significant new funding is expected.

The Route 220-615 drainage project is in the plan and it is short on funding. County officials will request additional funding for that project at a VDOT public hearing. Very little road construction work is expected in Bath County over the next six years.

There was also a public hearing on redistricting in the county. Because of the recent census figures, Bath had to reduce the size of the Cedar Creek district by moving some voters to the Warm Springs district. The Board voted previously to move the area around the high school into the Warm Springs district. There was no public comment during the public hearing Tuesday night and the board adopted the change in the election ordinance to incorporate the redistricting plan.

The board also appropriated the school budget on Tuesday night. The Board had already approved the school budget but had planned to appropriate it in June. School Superintendent Sue Hirsh requested appropriation now so the school system would have that guarantee on the budget amount and feel confident sending out contracts before the end of the school year.

The Board also voted to accept the low bid and move ahead with concrete work at the transfer station. The board approved the low bid of $17,000 from a local company, MHB, Inc.