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<p>EDWARDSVILLE &#8212; The state budget impasse had its first major ripple in area school district budgets this week. The Northeast Pennsylvania School District Health Trust agreed to let members defer premium payments for a month, leaving more money in district coffers while Harrisburg hashes out a state spending plan.</p><p>&#8220;I feel it&#8217;s an action we as a trust can take to help our members, and it&#8217;s unique to us,&#8221; Trust Board co-chairman Phil Russo said, adding that the trust &#8212; a consortium of area school districts and education agencies &#8212; has offered similar deferrals in the past.</p><p>Trust Executive Director Ed Weiss stressed the move is not &#8220;a gift or a loan.&#8221; Members will pay two months&#8217; worth of premiums next month, with no interest or fees charged.</p><p>&#8220;Our actuarial consultant firm Conrad Siegel said that, financially, we&#8217;re in good shape and can afford it.&#8221;</p><p>By law, Harrisburg is supposed to pass a budget by July 1, but freshman Governor Tom Wolf, a Democrat, and the Republican-controlled legislature have locked horns over multiple issues.</p><p>Because a big chunk of their budgets comes from local taxes, school districts &#8212; particularly those with healthy fund balances in reserve &#8212; can usually weather several months without state subsidies. But Russo noted the trust insures some districts with little or no money in reserve, as well as three agencies that have no taxing authority: The Luzerne Intermediate Unit and two Career and Technical Centers &#8212; Wilkes-Barre Area and West Side.</p><p>All three rely heavily on payments from the districts they serve, and if those districts start feeling money is tight, they may delay sending what they owe, Russo noted. The Health Trust&#8217;s deferral of one premium can prevent districts from withholding payments to the LIU and CTCs.</p><p>Formed in 1998, the trust struggled in the red for several years before hiring Conrad Siegel, then began running up surpluses so high that the Dallas and Pittston Area school districts withdrew in 2007, contending the surplus, topping $20 million at one point, proved districts were being overcharged.</p><p>The trust board responded by voting to cap the surplus at the equivalent of two and a half months of total premiums. Any money above that is typically returned to the districts as a partial or even complete premium waiver for one month. The trust has granted such waivers annually for several years.</p><p>Unlike the waivers, which aren&#8217;t paid back at a later date, this move defers the payment to next month.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Weiss </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/web1_Weiss-Ed.jpg</photo0><caption0>Weiss </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>

School districts get break in health insurance payments as state budget flap drags on