Grand Traverse County commissioners voted Wednesday to approve employee benefit cuts that will triple health insurance premiums for a majority of county employees and require those on defined benefit plans to begin contributing 10 percent of their salaries toward their pensions.

The meeting drew a large crowd of county employees, including several department heads who called on commissioners to take more time to review the proposal. "I don't think that all of the solutions (to the county's debt crisis) have to do with taking it out on the county employees," said County Prosecuting Attorney Bob Cooney. "My biggest concern here is that this is being rushed through. Since none of these changes take effect until January 1, I'm just wondering what the rush is."

Cooney said the pension hikes would be a "game-changer" in terms of potentially losing employees. The proposal - set forth by County Administrator Tom Menzel to address the county's ballooning pension and retiree healthcare debt - would require the dozen county employees who contribute nothing to their defined benefit plans now to begin paying 10 percent in 2017. Menzel stated he then plans to go to the 76 union employees on defined benefit plans and negotiate the same terms with them. Cooney said the move meant "these 88 employees will probably be gone" within a few years.

"With the stagnant wages and the constant reductions in benefits, you're going to have to do something at some point (to retain employees)," Cooney said. "I worry, I truly worry."

Sheriff Tom Bensley also said the cuts would make it difficult for his department to attract deputies, an issue he said he was already a challenge. "Our ability to attract good quality candidates is diminishing," Bensley said. "We are experiencing a 20-25 percent vacancy rate in our road patrol deputies."

Commissioners Carol Crawford and Addison "Sonny" Wheelock both opposed the pension hikes. "We’re not looking at the ripple effect of what’s going to probably happen here, and that is many of these people - most of them - will go at the very first second they’re allowed to retire," said Crawford. "I think we haven't vetted this through."

Wheelock said that while he understood "in today's world there are basically no pension plans that don't require an employee contribution," he also noted that "generally, (employees) are compensated by wages or something more to do that."

"When we come in and we say, 'OK we’re going to ask you to contribute 10 percent, (and) oh by the way we haven’t given you a raise in two or three years, but you’re going to pay 10 percent of that, plus you’re going to pay a percentage of your health care insurance with no additional compensation, that becomes a very difficult nut for anybody to swallow," said Wheelock.

But other commissioners said the cuts were necessary to help the county get a handle on its spiraling pension liabilities.

"At some point, we have to stop the bleeding," said Commissioner Bob Johnson. "Yes, it sucks...but we're going to have to do it. We haven't made any tough decisions (yet)."

Commissioner Dan Lathrop agreed. "These decisions aren't easy," he said. "I'm finding the best decisions I make hurt the most." Lathrop said that while he valued county employees, he also didn't "represent county workers. I represent District 1, and a lot of those people are fiscal conservatives and expect me to vote in a way that provides them the services they need at a price they can afford."

Commissioner Alisa Kroupa noted that commissioners had considered numerous other cost-cutting proposals to try and reduce the county's debt, many of which were opposed by the public, making it difficult to take the steps necessary to balance the budget. "Every time we come up with something, the room fills up with people," Kroupa said. "You can’t get rid of Animal Control. You can’t get rid of (Easling) Pool. You can't combine the register of deeds and clerk. You name it, I have tried to do it."

While the pension contribution hikes passed by a 5-2 vote, the proposal to require county employees to contribute 20 percent toward their health insurance premiums - instead of the current 6-10 percent - passed unanimously. Crawford said the move would bring employee contributions "much more in line with the private sector," and that she believed it was more fair than the pension hikes because it applied to all employees "across the board."

Kroupa recommended exploring options before the changes go into effect January 1 that would allow employees to pursue lower-cost health insurance, such as doubling a cash stipend from $2,000 to $4,000 for staff who opted out of the county's insurance plan. That would allow lower-income employees to potentially obtain their own plan through the Affordable Care Act, or offset costs for joining a spouse's plan elsewhere. Commissioners agreed to continue studying options this year.

"You have to start somewhere, and this is the first step," Johnson said. "This is just the start of things we need to do."