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County To Mull Altering Benefits

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By MIKE SALINERO

msalinero@tampatrib.com

Published: January 22, 2009

TAMPA - A crowd is expected this morning when the Hillsborough County Commission discusses health care benefits for domestic partners of county employees.

Kevin Beckner, the commission's first openly gay member, is asking fellow board members to rescind a 2004 vote prohibiting the county from providing the benefits. Commissioners could vote on his request today or let it die without a vote.

Beckner's resuscitation of the issue has drawn the attention of gay and lesbian organizations on one side and socially conservative groups on the other. Gay rights activist Zeke Fread said he expects his supporters to fill the commission chambers.

"That isn't a gay issue; it's a rights issue for everybody involved," said Fread, director of Pride Tampa Bay, a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender advocacy group.

The Florida Family Association has sent its membership e-mail messages asking that they contact commissioners and express their opposition to the measure. David Caton, the association's director, said he will attend the meeting but is not expecting a big turnout by other opponents.

"In all likelihood this proposal is not going to have support from the board," Caton said.

An Issue Of Timing

Beckner, who was elected in November, said he is raising the issue now because the county is seeking proposals from insurance carriers. Once a company is chosen, he said, the chance to study whether the benefits should be expanded won't come again for several years.

"This is certainly not the first issue I wanted to address, but this is a timing issue," Beckner said.

A key question in the debate is whether the county should incur the additional costs of expanded coverage, especially during an economic downturn. Commissioner Mark Sharpe made that point recently, saying it was "irresponsible" for government to be expanding benefits when the nation is in the "worst economic crisis since World War II."

County Administrator Pat Bean said Wednesday that providing the benefit would increase county health care costs by 1 to 2 percent. Bean said her staff had not translated that into a dollar amount yet.

Tampa's Cost: $73,000 A Year

Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio signed an order in 2004 extending benefits to unmarried partners of city employees. The expanded benefits cost the city about $73,000 per year, said Leanna Lopez, the mayor's spokeswoman.

Nationally, employers that offer domestic partner benefits experienced a total financial impact of less than 1 percent of the total cost of benefits, according to a 2005 study for Georgia's research industries. The study also concluded that expanding coverage to unmarried partners of employees improved the universities' ability to attract top-notch faculty and staff.

Still, some commissioners remain opposed to the expansion on philosophical grounds.

"The benefits ... in government should be involved with someone that's married. That's a recognized benefit," said Jim Norman who, along with commission Chairman Ken Hagan, voted against the expansion in 2004.

The commission meeting starts at 9 a.m. at the Fred. B. Karl County Center, 601 E. Kennedy Blvd.

Reporter Mike Salinero can be reached at (813) 259-8303.

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