Officials with NH employee insurance, union meet

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) -- The head of the New Hampshire Local Government Center and the president of a firefighters union agreed to disagree Wednesday over how the nonprofit manages health insurance for active and retired state employees.

Maura Carroll, the center's interim director, and David Lang, president of the Professional Fire Fighters of New Hampshire, met publicly during the center's annual conference at the Radisson Hotel. It was their first face-to-face meeting over the matter.

The center represents local governments and manages the statewide public employees' health insurance pool.

Carroll said she invited Lang and other union leaders to discuss their concerns with the center's risk pool management, after hearing that union members might picket outside the conference.

Only Lang showed up to the morning meeting. He was out picketing Wednesday afternoon. He said about 125 members from the unions representing firefighters, teachers and state employees had shown up carrying signs saying, "We're Not Your Piggy Bank" and "That's My Money." More than 600 people had registered to attend the conference.

The firefighter's union sued the center earlier this year, saying it has amassed more than $100 million in surplus funds, which the union says must be returned to cities and towns. The center disagreed with the allegations, and the union suspended its lawsuit while the state Bureau of Securities Regulation began an investigation into whether the center violated the law. The suit has since been dismissed.

The bureau released a preliminary report this month that said the center may have violated the law. A full report is due in January.

During their morning meeting, Lang said he had only one question for Carroll: "Do you think it's appropriate that taxpayer funded money that's intended for health care is used to run other areas of the Local Government Center?"

Carroll said the center's board determined that it was. She cited driver safety training as an example to help keep health claims -- and costs -- down.

"So we have fewer costs in property liability, we have fewer costs in workers comp, and we have fewer costs in health care," she said. "Our members say to us keep those rates low, keep those services coming because they are beneficial to us."

Lang said he felt the money was misdirected and misused.

"As a taxpayer in the state, I'm embarrassed," he said. "I feel bad about it, and I really wish you'd stop it."

Carroll said the board has returned money to members in the past. "Our members said to us after the one year that we gave them a check back, they said, `Please don't ever do that; please give us some rate stability'" and put them into the rate setting, she said.

Carroll said the law under which the center, formerly the New Hampshire Municipal Association, was formed, was drafted when there was no competition in health care coverage. She noted the Securities Bureau report said that the law isn't black and white about how the money should be used.

The center says it has produced more than 4,000 pages of materials to the Department of State, which oversees the Securities Bureau. Carroll noted in a letter to member organizations that the nonprofit was still working on addressing department questions.

Lang said none of the employees or retirees was asked whether the center could use the money for other purposes. Carroll said the board members represent the taxpayers.

"At the local community level, we're finding it hard to negotiate with our employers -- your members -- because of the situation we believe you put us in. We cannot come to the table to get agreement because of the high cost of health care," he said.

"I think you're not giving the money back because the money's already been spent," Lang added, calling it a scheme.

Carroll denied the allegation.