Warren, like other Valley towns, is working on next year’s budget. That includes addressing employee compensation and benefits. After working on health care choices recently, the Warren Select Board is planning on a 3% Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for staff.
At its November 18 meeting the board took up COLA and decided to offer employees health insurance through MVP’s Gold High Deductible Plan.
Warren Select Board vice chair Camilla Behn said that the state of Vermont is using a 3% COLA figure, based on the Northeast Regional CPI.
Board member Harvey Blake noted that there are multiple different measures of inflation said that the range for 2026 is coming in at 2.8 to 3.2%.
“I think 3% is a good number, doesn't rule out merit increases, but I think if it's going to be a cost of living adjustment, it's hard to get something that would be much different than actual inflation,” he said.
Dayna Lisaius town treasurer said that she’d calculated a COLA of 4% or 6% due to increases in health care costs, but then corrected herself and noted that the town is picking up health care costs.
Behn said the town applied COLA to salaries versus benefits and said that the board takes into account the cost of living in Warren and rural Vermont. Any merit increases are considered separately she said.
Lisaius said she’d used a 4 or 5 or 6 % increase thinking it would cover additional health care costs and Behn said employees aren’t picking up those costs.
Lisaius said they would be picking up increases in the 5 or 10 or 15% of their monthly premiums.
“The cost of health care is captured in the CPI measures so we wouldn’t add those two things together, they’re already captured in that index,” Blake said.
Board member Kaylee White said she was cognizant of the fact the economy is bad and people are having a hard time.
“That’s my big caveat with all of this. You’re lucky if you get a COLA at all, just given how things have been across the board. I’m very thankful if we can give our employees an increase,” White said.
Behn acknowledge that and then said, “what’s always difficult here is the flip side of doing this for our employees means that the people of the community who pay the taxes are also having a hard time or are having to come up with that money.”
The board opted to use a 3% COLA increase as a placeholder while it works its way through the rest of the 2026 budget and turned to the issue of health care. Warren had been insured with BCBS but rates are up so much this year that the town is leaving private insurance and will insure its employees on the Vermont Health Care Exchange.
The town selected the MVP Gold High Deductible Plan. That plan will save the town $10,700 per year over the comparable 2026 BCBS plan. Last year’s BCBS plan cost $280,035 and had the town stayed with BCBS’s plan, costs would have gone up 12.1% to $313,787. The BCBS plan had a $3,000 per person deductible which the town covered for employees with an HRA. Total cost of the MVP plan is $269,335. The MVP Gold Plan has a $3,200 deductible which the town will pay for with an HRA. The town also picks up most of the costs of the premiums.
Here are the monthly premium rates for MVP
- Single $1,074, employee share is 5% or $53.70.
- Couple $2,147, employee share is 10% or $214.70.
- Family $3,107, employee share is 15% or $466.05.
Last year’s BCBS monthly premiums were:
- Single $1,215, employee share was $60.75.
- Couple $2,205, employee share was $220.50.
- Family $3,249, employee share was $487.35.
2026 BCBS premium rates (which Warren is not using).
- Single $1,387, employee share $69.35.
- Couple $2,512, employee share $251.20.
- Family $3,713, employee share $556.95.
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