HOWLAND — Officials approved a pair of resolutions to secure insurance for its employees for the next year, after one of the rougher shopping periods the township has experienced.

Trustees at last week’s regular meeting approved renewing the township’s health, dental and vision insurance coverage through Anthem, effective Sept. 1 to Oct. 1, which is when it will terminate. The renewal comes with a 25.49% increase to medical coverage, a 5% increase to dental coverage and no increase to vision coverage premiums.

Trustees then approved an agreement with Crumdale Specialty-People’s Insurance for the township’s health, dental and vision coverage, effective Oct. 1. The renewal comes with a 10.07% increase to medical coverage through Aetna Network, a 9.63% decrease to dental coverage through Guardian and a 5% decrease to voluntary vision coverage, with the adjustments based on Anthem’s pre-Sept. 1 renewal rates.

Township Administrator James Pantalone clarified that Principal Life Insurance was an independent entity.

Pantalone said the township shops annually for insurance, but it was one of the more difficult years, coming off great years with “zeros, twos, fives and 14s” in terms of premium increases.

“If you recall last year, our initial renewal was 38.8% percent at a 10%,” Pantalone said. “And this year, if you look at where we’re going to end up in October, our initial renewal came in this year at 33.41% and we will land at a 10% increase.”

Pantalone said the township was renewing Anthem for a 30-day period for onboarding purposes, adding it was the reason the township also received a credit of up to $10,000 toward the first month’s premium — to help offset the cost the township will be facing for September.

“Crumdale felt strongly about slowing the pace a little bit as we pushed it right to the end to get a good negotiation, so that’s why you see the credit at the end,” Pantalone said. “Crumdale said, ‘Look, if you renew with Anthem, we’ll renew you with that for 30 days and we’ll help you offset your increased cost because we really feel this is the way to go, and you’ll be in a better spot.”

Pantalone said the township was moving to a “level-funded unbubble” insurance program, where each item is to be managed separately through a third-party administrator.

Trustee James LaPolla asked Pantalone if the new insurance was a high-deductable plan that would, perhaps, cause township employees financial problems. He also asked if the insurance correlated with the township’s contracts for its department unions.

“We maintain our contractual obligations. This is not a high deductible because of that reason,” Pantalone said. “(If) it moved into another direction, we could have been impacted by agreements problems and situations, because, as you know, collective bargaining agreements are binding.”

Pantalone said 10 to 12 employees — a group that included department heads and union representatives — reviewed three different insurance brokers’ packages in various types that were all high-deductible plans.

Pantalone said he read news articles the previous week, where experts were speculating health care insurance was going to skyrocket by 30% in the near future.

“I feel that we, in the end, did well, hold on for another year. And next year we’ll see where we go,” Pantalone said.