Galen Kusic
Editor
At 5:30 on Friday evening, the City of Isleton had its workman’s comp insurance reinstated. The canceling of the insurance had forced City employees and police officers to stay home from work. The lapse of coverage lasted for six business days.
Police coverage is back.
During that time, the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department was relied upon for coverage within the City. The City got the same workman’s comp provider as before, after the $20,000 bill was paid off.
“We’re back in the saddle,” said Isleton City Manager/City Attorney Dave Larsen. “We were denied consideration from a number of companies because of the situation with State Fund. We were able to be reinstated instead of reapply.”
Larsen conveyed that the City would actually save hundreds a month on their premium by getting a different plan this go around. City staff plans to address the issue again within the next five to six months to see if there is a better provider out there for the City’s financial needs.
As far as anyone knows, City employees will be paid for their time away from work – but certain council members feel differently about the situation.
“We shouldn’t pay them, they didn’t work,” said councilmember Elizabeth Samano. “It was our fault, but this is the reason we can’t pay our bills – trying to make payroll to pay our employees. Why are there so many people employed?”
According to Samano, there are two public works employees, three office staff, two police officers, the city manager/city attorney and the fire department personnel, which get paid a total of $24,000 a year.
Talk about a bare bones budget.
“We have very little as it is,” said Samano. “Two employees in the office are part-time. We are so far behind it doesn’t even matter anymore.” |
