With the end of the fiscal year quickly approaching, Athens City Council was primarily concerned with finances Monday night.
Council members unanimously passed an ordinance appropriating more than $400,000 to cover a variety of city expenses, including $50,000 to pay off the city’s debt after purchasing a new fire truck in 2011.
Another $24,000 chunk of the funds was appropriated for infrastructure improvements, including street repairs, which are particularly important to the city because of a recent break in a water line along Sunnyside Drive, said Councilwoman Chris Knisely, D-at large.
“This is something that needs to get done,” Knisely said.
Council also appropriated $200,000 to cover healthcare claims filed through the end of the year by employees on the city’s insurance plan.
Recent sicknesses among those insured have caused expenditures to rise, Mayor Paul Wiehl said, adding that costs are dependent on whether or not people are sick.
Council also continued to discuss an ordinance that would extend healthcare coverage to domestic partners of city employees — including same-sex couples.
This healthcare plan is used in many metropolitan areas in Ohio, but not many smaller cities around the size of Athens, Councilman Elahu Gosney, D-at large, said.
“This is bringing us to the forefront of where we need to be in terms of caring for our employees,” Gosney said.
Providing healthcare benefits to domestic partners was proposed to council by a group of citizens called the “Committee to Move Athens Forward” in 2011, but financial problems halted the plan’s implementation until now.
“This should have been done a year and a half ago,” Gosney said. “The cost is negligible to the city.”
48 of 161 total city employees are eligible for these healthcare benefits.
“We’re passing the ordinance now so we can announce this for the open enrollment period in December,” said Knisely.
Wiehl credited members of Ohio University Student Senate for lobbying in support of this expansion of healthcare coverage.
“OU Student Senate did a lot of work to get this to attention,” Wiehl said.
Council also passed an ordinance that will allow Wiehl to apply for a “Clean Ohio Conservation” grant at the Ohio Public Works Commission.
If the city receives the grant, this money will be used to fund the acquisition of property and subsequent creation of a recreational park, Gosney said, adding that council “would look to purchase land that is important environmentally and scenically.”
sh335311@ohiou.edu
