Price Hike In Healthcare Premiums Addressed By Morris Mayors

MORRIS TOWNSHIP, NJ — Mark Gyrofy, mayor of Morris Township, spoke at a press conference yesterday to address how residents will be impacted by upcoming increases in health insurance premiums.

The event, held on the front steps of the Morris Township Municipal Building, served as an informational discussion as well as a call to action and a plea for change to the elected officials in Trenton.

The state surprised all New Jersey municipalities, including Morris Township and Morris Plains, with a 20% increase in healthcare insurance rates earlier this fall, prompting local governments to pass resolutions opposing the increase in an effort to fight back.

The conference was attended by all mayors and elected officials from Southeast Morris towns, including Madison, the Chatham's, Morristown and Morris Plains.

"The substantial premium increases of over 20% proposed for State Health Benefits Program participants is yet another burden taxpayers and public employees will be left to carry and will leave many towns grappling with the potential for layoffs, the cancelation of important public projects, and/or tax increases," said Mayor Mark Gyorfy, Morris Township Mayor.

Hundreds of thousands of New Jersey public employees, early retirees, and school employees could face rate increases of up to 20% for health benefits under the new healthcare proposals.

"The proposed premium increases for the State Health Benefits Program are a gut punch to not only our towns, but to our employees and to our tax payers," Gyorfy said.

Locally, Morris Township and Morris Plains residents may experience budget constraints and higher property taxes as a result of the significant increases in health insurance premiums.

"To put it in perspective, our towns were dealt blows during the Covid-19 pandemic with the burden of added costs, delays and regulations. As we started to get back on our feet inflation came with huge increases for basic goods and services," Gyorfy said.

As a result of rising costs, small towns such as Morris Township and Morris Plains have been forced to postpone a variety of projects and investments in the community.

"This is a big problem for smaller towns," Morris Plains Mayor Jason Karr said.

During the conference, Gyorfy explained that the taxpayers will end up bearing the brunt of the premium hike, estimating that the Morris Township taxpayer burden under the proposed increase will be $794,000 in 2023.

"There are our policemen, our firefighters, our public workers, our parks and recreation staff, our sewer staff and our professional staff here in town hall," Gyorfy said. "All in, Morris Township tax payers are facing over $1 million dollars in costs that we didn't have in 2022."

Senator Anthony M. Bucco stated following the press conference that the mayors of Morris County were correct to be concerned about the impending impact of massive health insurance premium increases.

“It’s clear, however, that Governor Murphy knew this was coming as early as February, months before the increases were announced. Had the governor shared that knowledge with the rest of us this spring, we could have worked on a solution with mayors, local governments, and the administration as part of the State Budget adopted in June. Unfortunately, that never happened because the administration wasn’t transparent about what it knew.”

Gyorfy stated that, while many believe that raising taxes is the solution, it will not cover the costs imposed on the township. "If we were to raise property taxes next year to the 2% tax cap imposed by the state, it would net us a little over $450,000," he said.

Under the proposed rate hike, towns like Morris Township and Morris Plains will be left with few options, including hiring freezes, pauses in public investments, layoffs and tax increases, Gyorfy stated.

"When we give our employees raises next year in our budget, they will be taking home less money. Let that sink in," Gyorfy said.