By Jeff Eason

The Blowing Rock Town Council voted unanimously this week to participate in the same health insurance plan that covers employees at Appalachian State University and other state agencies. The move was made following approval by the N.C. General Assembly during its last legislative session.
The move to enroll in the State Health Plan followed a detailed study of cost increases that the town’s current plan had incurred over the past five years. Blowing Rock currently has over 60 town employees who are served by its employee insurance plan.
Blowing Rock town manager Scott Hildebran credited legislative work by state representatives Cullie Tarleton and Steve Goss with helping pave the way for Blowing Rock to join the State Health Plan through Session Law 2007-504, enacted last August.
The town joins an elite group of communities—one that includes Biltmore Forest and Black Mountain—that has been granted approval from the state for such a move.
Hildebran’s report to the Town Council showed how quickly insurance rates for the town had climbed in the past half decade.
“Over the past five years, the cost of providing our employees with health insurance has increased more than 50% or $140,000 since 2002-03,” said Hildebran. “This increase equates to almost 1.5 cents on our property tax rate.
“The town currently pays $453.43 per month per employee for health insurance coverage. The cost for individual employees under the State Health Plan is $346.38 per month per employee. The savings of $107.05 per month in premium cost as applied to 63 employees results in an annual savings of $80,929.80.”
Hildebran noted, however, that the town will have to subtract from those savings the additional cost of providing retiree health insurance. Blowing Rock currently has only four retirees on its health plan but that number is scheduled to increase dramatically over the next two decades.
The State Health Plan requires a payment to the Local Government Employees Retirement System equal to 4.1% of active payroll for the cost that coverage. The town will contribute to the state’s retiree benefit system in lieu of its current monthly “pay as you go” premium cost per retiree. Hildebran estimated that Blowing Rock’s 4.1% requirement would presently be $85,000 annually, as opposed to the $21,176.64 current annual premium for retirees.
“When those costs are accounted for, our annualized savings is approximately $17,694.44,” said Hildebran. He added that the current “pay as you go” plan would only increase as more Blowing Rock employees retire.
“The cost of coverage is likely to be far more stable in the long run under the State Health Plan as we will be included in a much larger group which should minimize huge claims impact on our current smaller group,” said Hildebran. “The State Health Plan rates are identical for Appalachian State University and are less than the premium rates of both the Town of Boone and Watauga County.”
Other Town Council Matters
The Blowing Rock Town Council also approved extending the city’s sewer system to three property owners who agreed to finance the roughly $11,000 per home connection cost.
The council also adopted a measure to approve a 20-year agreement with Appalachian State University and the Town of Boone to share water resources through an interconnected water line. The 12” pipe would run some 26,000 feet toward Boone and connect with a similar system installed by Boone. The two systems would connect at the line separating their respective fire districts
Boone would use pumps when moving water to Blowing Rock through the pipes while Blowing Rock would use gravity when moving water to Boone through the inter-local water supply system.
Blowing Rock is currently applying for state grants to help finance the inter-local water supply system.