City renews health plan
Wednesday, September 28, 2016 Volume 118 | Number 25 12 Pages www.herefordbrand.com $1
Week 4 Football Contest Winners
First place Second place Tammy Bradford Dan Odell
Third place Lupe Pesina
Touchdown
By C.E. Hanna BRAND Staff Writer
By John Carson BRAND Managing Editor Somewhat lost in the deluge of budget ordinances at Monday’s Hereford City Commission was the renewal of employee health insurance coverage. While due diligence of public money saw commissioners bid out the renewal, their choice for 2016-17 coverage was not the lowest bid received when the decision was made to renew the city’s current plan with FirstCare. “This is a great plan for employees,” Hereford Assistant City Manager and Finance Director Steve Bartels said during Monday’s work session. “I recommend we stay with FirstCare despite the higher costs. “This plan saves employees a lot of money. It is a good plan, and we should stick with it.” The lowest of the three bids submitted came from Texas Municipal League (TML) at $563,764.20. However, Bartels warned the amount – almost $70,000 lower than the next bidder – could be TML “buying the business” before raising premiums next year. Despite an 8 percent increase in premiums from $575,380.80 per year to $621,414, Bartels noted the current FirstCare plan was worth it because it contains an HMO – which have become increasingly rare in group plans. “In terms of HMOs, PLEASE SEE CITY | 2A
DSCHD forgoes tax hike
Photo by Bryan Hedrick/HISD
There was no need to look for the guys in the striped shirts Friday as Hereford assistant coach David Lakeman lets everyone know what is happening with Carlos Gallegos (11) cruising into the end zone to complete a 66-yard scoring play. For details, comment and full stats from last week’s game – as well as a preview of Friday’s upcoming tilt at Plainview – see Sports, page 7A.
The Deaf Smith County Hospital District (DSCHD) Board of Directors elected not follow the city’s and county’s lead and did not raise taxes in finalizing and approving a $25,719,316 budget for 2016-17 at Thursday’s regular meeting. The .349406 per $100 evaluation will net the district $4,637,543 in taxes in the coming year. “As far as taxes go, nobody likes them,” Hereford Regional Medical Center (HRMC) CEO Jeff BARNHART Barnhart said. “We’ll do everything we can to operate within our own revenue restraints.” HRMC projects $18,018,651 in net patient revenue and an aggregate of $2,245,844 in other revenue next year. Salaries, wages (which will not include a cost-ofliving raise for HRMC employees) and benefits total $10,805,816. “This budget is tight, and we did not budget for a salary increase,” Barnhart said. “I don’t like doing that, but this SCHUELER year it’s necessary. “It’s not going to be popular, but it is responsible.” A Sept. 7 meeting of the board’s finance committee – president Mike Schueler, vice president Harold McNutt and Robert Josserand – reviewed HRMC’s projected capital expenditures to “scale them back,” Schueler said. According to Barnhart, some items in the proposed capital expenditures were necessary and could not be eliminated. “There’s needs and then there’s wants,” Barnhart said. “I think we PLEASE SEE DSCHD | 2A
Principals now part of voter registration process By C.E. Hanna BRAND Staff Writer With November elections looming, a recent addition to the Texas Election Code (TEC) will make it easier for high school students to register to vote. TEC Section 13.046(a) designates a local high school principal as a deputy voter registrar in order to register students aged 17 years, 10 months and high school employees. “So far, we’ve distributed 95 registration cards,” Hereford High School (HHS) principal Richard Sauceda said. “It’s my job to make sure that every student who is a potential voter gets the message.” Registration cards for students are available in English and Spanish and may be submitted by returning them to
BRAND/C.E. Hanna
Hereford High School principal Richard Sauceda, right, helps senior Kiki Alonzo with voter registration as addition to law allow high school principals to also serve as voter registrar for students and staff.
the principal, delivering them to the Deaf Smith County Clerk’s office or by postage-free mail. By law, the high school must extend the opportunity twice per year, and the Texas Secretary of State’s office recommends doing it at the end of the semester to capture as many eligible voters as possible. HHS elected to provide the opportunity to coincide with classroom instruction. “We did it to accompany Constitution Week,” Sauceda said. “It gave us the chance to talk to students about how important it is to vote, regardless of what candidate they support.” The principal can assist students in completing the registration and must ensure that cards returned to the principal’s office are complete, either in or out of the student’s presence, before they can be submitted. As deputy registrar, the principal commits a Class C misdemeanor under TEC Section 13.042 if he PLEASE SEE VOTER | 2A