HUMBOLDT — Humboldt Council members agreed to renew the city’s insurance plans for health, dental and vision at their meeting Monday evening.
Health insurance premiums increased by 10% and dental by about 9% for next year.
The good news is that the city can absorb those increases through funds set aside from what it has saved from paying toward insurance, Cole Herder, city administrator.
The “claims account” fund currently holds about $56,000.
The city has 20 employees enrolled in its insurance plan and pays $737 per month per employee. As with 2025, the city will budget $176,880 for the plans.
Humboldt belongs to the Kansas Municipal Insurance Trust, a self-funded pool of public entities that has its own health plan through Kansas Blue Cross/Blue Shield.
Employees’ plans include a $6,000 deductible for which they are responsible for $500, with the city picking up the rest, if necessary.
In addition to the deductible, employees have a 20% co-pay of up to $1,400.
The city covers 100% of individual plans. Herder said he looked into covering up to 25% of costs for family members, “but I’m not sure that we can financially justify that,” he said. “I wish we could.”
THE CITY paid its first bill for the water distribution project that will overhaul its delivery system over the next two years. A payment of $390,090 was made to NPL Construction Co.
Work has begun in the northeast part of the town, “opening manholes and locating utilities,” Herder said. “I don’t think they’ve started connecting yet, but when they do, they will put hangers on doorknobs to notify neighborhoods that they’ll have water disruption.”
Herder said any disruptions in service should be brief, “depending on the type of connection they have to make, and whether it’s a water main or not.”
“This project is going to take a year and a half to two years, so we’re going to be doing this for a while,” Herder said.
During that time, Humboldt will receive funds from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to pay receipts.
“We’ll do this continuously throughout the project. As soon as we get reimbursed by KDHE, we’ll pay the contractor,” Herder said.
The KDHE loan is for $13 million and will be paid back over 40 years at about $414,000 a year.
