Zona and Virtuoso arguing ‘good governance’ decline opt out payments

Virtuoso opted to decline more than $50,000 in opt out payments.

Fireman Zona on a rescue attempt.

As most people know, government provides health insurance to its employees. Taxpayers pay for what is usually expensive and comprehensive, if not Cadillac versions of health insurance for government workers.

A health insurance policy for a government employee frequently costs more than $16,000 per year and helps keep the shrinking number of taxpayers poor while paying for better coverage for government employees than taxpayers can afford for themselves.

As a cost-cutting measure, government agencies sometimes offer employees who do not need health insurance -- because they are covered by family health insurance policy of their spouses or because they have health insurance from another job -- an opportunity to accept money in lieu of health insurance as part of their employment compensation package.

For example, the state of New York pays employees around $3,000 a year if they opt out of state health insurance coverage. Erie County pays $1,200.
Buffalo employees get $1,000 to $1,200. North Tonawanda pays up to $1,925. Lockport up to $2,000.

Niagara County -- $1,000.

Niagara Falls pays employees up to $9,716 if they don’t take health insurance.

The Reporter discovered two instances where elected officials who could take opt out money but declined to do it. They are legislators Dennis Virtuoso and Jason Zona, two of only three Democrats on a 15 member Republican-controlled Niagara County legislature.

Both men work for the city. Both qualify for opt outs with the city since county legislators, may get health coverage with the county.

It might make financial sense for them to do so since Niagara County pays only $1,000 per year while Niagara Falls pays $9,716.

It costs the city $17,900 to provide health insurance for its employees.

Zona is a firefighter with the city. Virtuoso is acting head of the code enforcement department. If they chose, they could accept the county's health insurance policy, cancel their Niagara Falls health insurance and take the city opt out payment of $9,716. Or they could keep their city policy and take the county opt out of $1,000.

They did neither.

Zona told the Reporter he kept his health coverage with the city but declined to take the $1,000 opt out with the county. Virtuoso did the same.

“We have to lead by example,” Zona, a freshman legislator, said, “Government cost too much and this is, let’s face it an excess.”

Virtuoso, a county legislator for more than 20 years, said he turned down the opt out payments ever since the city started offering it years ago.

Virtuoso qualified for at least five years at $9,716 per year.

“Elected officials should not milk the system,” said Virtuoso. “I have coverage through the city, and it seems wrong to take taxpayer money just for not having health insurance.”

Zona agreed. “It is not right to accept it,” Zona said, “And at the same time talk about how we have to reduce taxes and how the Republicans in their county wide playground have taken advantage of the system and cheated the taxpayers.”