(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

Despite the recent funding that Beaver County has received from ARPA, along with maintaining a budget with little fuss, the Commissioners learned Wednesday that they could be saving money in places where they may be spending too much.

Controller Maria Longo spoke to the Commissioners on Wednesday about the recent numbers revealed in regards to the stop loss insurance policy that the county has been using for several years. “If you look at the numbers from 2021, we’ve paid $845,000 in stop loss insurance,” she stated. “The amount of people that went over the threshold would’ve amounted to $216,000 that we would have paid out of our pocket if we didn’t have stop loss. So in essence, if we would’ve just self-funded, we would’ve saved the county $629,000 last year.”

Longo also applied that to the entire term of the stop loss policy: “If we add up everything over the last eight years, we could have saved the county two million dollars if we just self-funded.”

The new information was handed to the Commissioners by Longo, who insisted that the board review the numbers with financial advisor Corey Troutman. A resolution for the January 27 public meeting in regards to the stop loss insurance policy was tossed out in order that the Commissioners could consult further with Troutman on the numbers presented by Longo.

“I think it’s low-risk,” Longo said, “because year after year we keep showing that we would pay out less than we do in stop loss. And for next year, if we stay with the same threshold, our stop loss insurance will go up 15% again.”

The Commissioners will hold a public meeting at 10:00 AM at the Courthouse on January 27. Their next scheduled work session is set for 10:00 AM on Wednesday, February 2.