If it's a benefit, why does it hurt?

Tad Leach tells a great joke — albeit one that evokes a wince every time he tells it.

With apologies to Leach, former Kootenai County undersheriff and longtime copper, if we alter the gag unintentionally:

A peace officer hears about a new bar called “Cops” that allegedly caters to police in particular. The guy goes in and orders a shot of Jack and a beer.

“That’ll be 20 cents,” the barkeep/owner says.

“Twenty cents?” the incredulous officer asks. “How’s that possible?”

“Well,” the owner says, “as a former cop I always wanted to own a bar, and not long ago I won some money in the lottery. So now I can do what I’d always dreamed of doing, and make it affordable to men and women I really respect.”

The new customer looks around and sees four law enforcers down at the end of the bar, all empty handed.

“What’s up with them?” he asks the owner.

“Oh, they’re Kootenai County sheriff’s deputies,” the barkeep says. “They’re waiting for happy hour, when drinks are half price.”

As a matter of fact, Kootenai County sheriff’s deputies are probably going to be waiting for more half-price sales after the dust from the county’s new budget settles.

Deputies and other county employees are upset that higher health insurance costs to the county mean higher premiums for everyone. Most are getting what they consider small raises, with disproportionately high insurance premiums gobbling up the dollars that should instead be offsetting higher costs of living.

To set the record straight, a family — the county employee, his or her spouse and two or more children participating in the county’s wellness program, which affords them lower out-of-pocket costs — will pay $376.56 a month in the new budget. That’s for medical, dental and vision; a very competitive package in the public or private sector. In the old budget, this same family was paying $220.56 a month, so it’s a significant increase — $156 a month.

We know that’s a hardship for some very valuable public servants, deputies and others. But the big picture deserves a closer look.

County Commissioners Dan Green and Marc Eberlein made the tough choice to split $1.7 million in overall insurance cost increases between county revenue and employee contributions; the county is in fact bearing the heavier burden. Green and Eberlein didn’t try to make up the difference by two tempting but short-sighted options: dipping into foregone taxes, which are uncollected property taxes from previous years, or taking money from the county’s healthy fund balance.

Had they taken foregone taxes, property owners would have been hit with an even bigger tax bill, and keep in mind that many of these county employees are also property owners, so a lighter load on one hand would have been partially negated by a heavier load on the other. The problem with slicing a piece out of the fund balance pie is that health insurance costs, like salaries, are ongoing expenses. If anything, they go up every year, never down. Fund balances should be taken only for one-time expenses, as the county is doing with its $12 million jail expansion. That’s the only thing that makes fiscal sense.

While our sympathies are with employees struggling to meet higher expenses for themselves and their families, we can’t fault Green and Eberlein for their difficult decision on employee health care costs. The real problem is what’s happening on that health care front nationally, and it’s going to take all of us working together to find a better solution.