TriMet health spending singled out 'fleecing' taxpayers
03:34 PM PDT on Thursday, July 9, 2009
PORTLAND, Ore. -- How do free gym memberships and plastic surgery sound? It sounds too good to be true, unless you're a taxpayer.
TriMet's employee health spending has been singled out as the 'winner' of the Golden Fleece award for wasteful spending of taxpayer's money.
"I think it's truly a fleecing of taxpayers." Said Ross Day, Executive Director of Common Sense For Oregon. “You have free corporate fitness centers and free eyeglasses.”
Radio ads are swarming the airwaves, with the details.
“Free breast enhancement, fitness centers, eyeglasses, no co-pay, and taxpayers are paying for all of it,” the ads say.
Common Sense For Oregon reports TriMet pays as much as $1,932 a month per employee for health insurance coverage. That’s the highest amount spent by any transit agency in the entire country, says Day.
Mary Fetsch, a TriMet spokesperson, said only a small portion of employees are covered under that plan.
“Obviously, it’s negotiated seven years ago. Who would know that health care would go up that much? “ she said.
The current contract ends this fall.
Common Sense For Oregon tells NewsChannel 8 the group received their information after submitting a public records request to review the union contract.
More: Details of the non-union plan
The group said they reviewed 800 pages of documents included in the union contract for three weeks.
The items, such as the eyeglasses, gym memberships, and plastic surgery are included in the union contract, according to Common Sense For Oregon president Kevin Mannix.
“Common Sense For Oregon” tells NewsChannel 8 the group stands behind their radio ads.
Last month’s winner was the Dept. of Corrections, who spent nearly $1 million on soda for prisoners.
More Headlines...
Most Viewed Stories
Below is a list of the most popular stories read by our subscribers this week.
Storm dumps snow on Mt. Hood, windy and wet on Coast
Police ID parents & child found dead in SE Portland home
Police think cyclist in deadly crash was already in the road when hit
Popular Stories




You must be logged in to contribute. Log in | Register Now!
You are logged in as screenname | Log Out
You are logged in, but do not have a "screen" name. Create a Screen Name