Local towns and school districts who use the SchoolCare insurance pool were hit with large overage costs at the end of September, resulting in bills ranging from the tens to hundreds of thousands.

In a letter sent to members on Sept. 23, School Care notified its members that it determined that claims and pharmacy costs have “far exceeded” yearly projections, which had thus far been managed by tapping reserves. But as of the end of June, SchoolCare reported those reserves were “critically low” and a deficit of $4.5 million.

The board of directors for SchoolCare directed the issuance of a $30 million assessment to be shared among the members. Schools and towns that use SchoolCare received that bill on Oct. 1.

SchoolCare provides health insurance for the towns of Greenfield, Jaffrey, Lyndeborough, New Ipswich, Peterborough, Temple and Wilton.

It also provides insurance for the school districts of Mascenic Regional School District, the Jaffrey-Rindge Cooperative School District, the Mason School District and the Wilton-Lyndebrough Cooperative School Distrit.

The Mascenic Regional School Board discussed the impact of the SchoolCare extra bill during its meeting on Monday. The bill for the district was $407,434, which is approximately 15% of the total health insurance premium for the year.

Business Administrator Rachel Anderson wrote a recommendation to the board to pay the assessment with unexpended funds. This is expected to result in less being returned to taxpayers at the end of the year to offset taxes. Prior to this bill, the fund was about $1,074,964. After paying the bill, $667,529 will be available for tax offsets.

Anderson wrote in her recommendation to the board that while she recognizes it will result in “significantly less” going back to taxpayers, she sees “no other viable option that is both fiscally responsible and does not put health insurance coverage at risk.”

Mascenic Superintendent Liz Pogorzelski said the board approved that recommendation Monday.

She said the board did consider other options, including delaying the payment, but said that the board did not want to put staff plans at risk of suspension.

“It’s unfortunate,” Pogorzelski said. “It’s not a situation anyone wants to be in.”

Geoffrey Allen, the town administrator in Lyndeborough, said they have received their bill, for an additional $30,364.

“It will have an impact on our budget,” Allen said. He said what that impact will be has yet to be determined, and that he was scheduled to sit down with the town’s finance coordinator on Monday to review the current budget, and whether the unforeseen bill could be accommodated. He said the matter is expected to be on the agenda for the next Select Board meeting. Allen said he’s confident that Lyndeborough will be able to cover the cost within this year’s budget.

“We’re more fortunate than most, because the majority of our employees are part-time,” said Allen. “For some towns, this will be huge. We plan our budgets pretty tight, and try to get the closest to the bottom line that we can. There’s just not a lot of wiggle room.”

Jon Frederick, the town manager for Jaffrey, said Jaffrey’s assessment was about $88,000. He said it will be able to be covered by this year’s budget, but said it was still a “big hit.”

Frederick said in previous years, when SchoolCare had a surplus, it was returned to the towns. Jaffrey’s practice has been to return that surplus to employees. He said that may have to be revisited, and future surpluses put in a fund for the possibility of a future deficit. He said the town is also anticipating a significant increase in insurance premiums through SchoolCare in the next year.

“We’re not entertaining anything in particular at the moment, it’s just that we’re going to have to have some conversations,” Frederick said. “It’s a problem.”

New Ipswich received a bill of $27,732. Greenfield received a bill amounting to about a month and a half of its usual premium.

Wilton Deputy Town Administrator Janice Pack said that Wilton does receive its insurance though SchoolCare, but only joined recently, and thus is not part of the overage assessment. However, she said, other changes expected in SchoolCare, including the billing cycle and anticipated increase in premiums are likely to have Wilton shopping for other providers.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on X @AshleySaariMLT.