The Daily Record News Briefs: September 25, 2008
Counties team up to save money
Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks, along with executives from Erie and Onondoga counties, are forming a commission in hopes of reforming how the state hands down its mandates in order to ease the burden on local taxpayers.
Brooks, along with Erie County Executive Chris Collins and Joanie Mahoney of Onondoga County, announced the formation of the Upstate Mandate Relief Commission on Wednesday.
Mandates are programs and initiatives that the state requires counties to pay for, like Medicaid.
The county leaders say the mandates leave them with little control over their own budgets and are causing a fiscal crisis. State mandates account for 71 percent of Monroe County’s budget, costing $833.3 million this year, Brooks said.
The 10-member commission, led by Rochester-area businessman Geoff Rosenberger, is expected to present its report to by the end of the year
Culinary center highlights homegrowns
The New York Wine & Culinary Center in Canandaigua announced a new campaign Wednesday to highlight the state’s top industry, agriculture.
Funded by a $705,000 grant from New York State Sen. Catharine M. Young of Cattaraugus County, chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, the “Sample New York” campaign will promote the state’s agricultural products by encouraging consumers to buy more locally- grown foods.
The push will include a new Web site, www.sampleny.org, to help users find food items, growers and producers with a local organic focus, along with recipes featuring New York ingredients. The site is expected to go live next month.
An advertising campaign that eventually will extend as far as away as Boston, Pittsburgh and Toronto will promote New York foods and related attractions, such as restaurants specializing in fresh food.
The public also can take part in a photo contest capturing New York foods.
Insurance costs grow more gradually in 2008
WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) — Health insurance premiums rose a modest 5 percent this year for coverage that’s getting skimpier, researchers say.
The 5 percent increase was comparable to last year’s uptick. Overall, premiums for family coverage increased to $12,680 and premiums for single coverage increased to $4,704, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust. Employers pick up, on average, about three-quarters of that cost.
Over the past decade, insurance premiums have grown much more quickly than wages and inflation. That wasn’t the case this year. But to help slow the costs of health insurance, companies are increasingly offering coverage that requires workers to pay more of their medical expenses before the insurance kicks in.
In just one year, the percentage of workers enrolled in high- deductible insurance of $1,000 or more jumped from 12 percent to 18 percent.
“We may be seeing the tip of the iceberg of a trend towards less comprehensive, skimpier health insurance coverage for many working people,” said Drew Altman, president and CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation, which conducts health research.
The shift toward high-deductible insurance was most dramatic for workers in small businesses, where more than one in three covered workers must pay at least $1,000 out of pocket before their plan will start to pay a share of their health care bills.
New York companies top AARP list
Three New York employers recently were cited by AARP magazine as the best for workers aged 50 and older.
Cornell University topped the list of 50 workplace, recognized for offering long-term care insurance for employees and their loved ones, a consultant to help workers find the right child-care and elder-care facilities for family members, a pre-tax savings account to help employees pay for dependent-care costs. Employees and retirees also can take several classes a year at Cornell for free.
The YMCA of Greater Rochester came in at fourth place. The magazine cited as advantages the YMCA’s $3,000 tuition reimbursement, 12 percent contribution to 403(b) plans and the free use of facilities for employees and retirees.
Adecco Group North America, of Melville, N.Y., placed at number 18. The staffing firm recently opened a payroll processing facility in Gates.
Originally published by Daily Record Staff.
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