Board members at the Sweetwater Authority are entitled to dental and vision benefits as well as a life insurance policy.
But now, for the first time in the agency’s history, board members can receive health insurance.
Last week, in a 4-3 vote, the SWA board adopted a resolution that would legally allow elected and appointed board members to claim health insurance from the water agency if they did not already have health coverage.
Board members Steve Castaneda, Jose Cerda, Jose Preciado and Jess Van Deventer voted in favor of the resolution while Ron Morrison, Terry Thomas and Josie Calderon-Scott opposed it.
Preciado, who has health insurance through his employer, San Diego State University, put forth the resolution because he said recently two of his colleagues had experienced serious medical issues.
Preciado said he did not know if his colleagues were medically covered, but wanted SWA to offer health benefits to any and all board members in case they were not.
“I just thought that given that we had experienced some major health issues, I wanted to make sure everybody had health insurance,” Preciado said. “I didn’t know who had any or who was missing health insurance but I wanted to make sure that if they needed it they could have it.”
Castaneda publicly announced last October that he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a curable form of cancer.
Thomas had experienced some medical issues that caused her to miss several board meetings.
Both Castaneda and Thomas said they already had their own health insurance packages and would not need to use the one the agency offers.
“Essentially this will only be available to board members who have no health insurance,” Castaneda said. “So any board members who have their own primary insurance through their jobs or retirement account or wherever are not eligible for that.”
As part of the resolution, the agency may legally provide health benefits to board members, but may not provide cash-in lieu of health benefits.
According to an SWA survey of 17 water agencies in the county, most water agencies offer health insurance to their elected and appointed board, which includes neighboring water agency the Otay Water District.
According to the agency’s report, the fiscal impact of providing health benefits to all board members is up to $77,000 annually for Aetna Select.
The $77,000 is the yearly cost if all seven board members had gone through the agency for health insurance. For a single board member, it is estimated that health insurance would cost nearly $11,000.
Health insurance through Kaiser Permanente will cost SWA much less.
For all seven board members, the annual cost for Kaiser Permanente is $49,560. Kaiser Permanente would only cost $7,092 per year for a single board member.
Preciado said the cost of health insurance will actually not be as high as all seven board members don’t need insurance at the time.
He said the cost will come out of SWA’s $50 million budget.
“Like everything else that comes from our agency, the (money to fund the insurance) will come from our rate payers,” he said.
Preciado assured that water rates will not increase to fund health insurance for any board member.
Morrison, who is also the mayor of National City, did not vote in favor of passing health insurance for board members, saying that it was “excessive” for a position that only worked a few hours.
“These (board) positions are stipend, part-time positions, they are not meant to be full-time positions” he said. “…If you’re only working a few hours a week, you should not be getting full benefits.”
Morrison estimates that board members work two to four hours per month at SWA meetings and attend several committee meetings. He later clarified board members work two to four hours per board meeting per month, in addition to attending several committee meetings.
Morrison said he already has health insurance through the city of National City.
SWA is currently developing processes and procedures for claiming health benefits and when board members can be eligible.
