BY JEFF CHUDZINSKINorth Country This Week

MASSENA — Health insurance premiums are set to rise 14.10% for the village of Massena. 

Village Treasurer Kevin Felt told trustees during the board’s Dec. 19 meeting that the premium is updated on a calendar year basis and will affect five months of fiscal year 2023-24 from January through May and fiscal year 2024-2025 from June through December. 

Monthly health insurance rates for a single employee will rise from $582.23 to $664.32. For an employee and spouse, the rates will rise from $1,164.45 per month to $1,328.64. For an employee plus children, rates will rise from $989.78 to $1,129.35, while a family plan will rise from $1,659.34 to $1,893.32. 

In addition to health insurance premiums rising, prescription and Medicare Supplement plan rates for employees, retirees and spouses, age 65 and over from United Healthcare will also rise 4%. 

Rates from United Healthcare also run on a calendar basis and will rise from a monthly rate of $306.16 in 2023 to $318.41 in 2024. 

In other action, Felt informed trustees the village made an $8,128 interest payment to the Depository Trust Company for the Center Street/Parker Avenue sewer line long-term bond. The next payment is due June 1. 

Auditors from Fust Charles will also be on site in the coming week to complete the in-house portion of their fieldwork on both the internal controls and financial portions of the village’s audit. 

Felt said the village expects to have a draft of the report by mid-January and a final report by the beginning of February. 

Trustees also approved budget amendments for the Department of Public Works to spend just over $12,000 on a needed upgrade to the department’s Neptune 360 software. 

According to DPW Superintendent Marty Miller, the software is updated every few years and eventually phased out, which forces the village to constantly upgrade. 

“We need the software to communicate with our water meters, so there really isn’t much we can do in this case,” Miller said.