Open letter to the Ada County Commissioners

To the Board of Ada County Commissioners,
According to a press release from Ada County: "In an effort to help offset the elimination of employee merit increases, the Board of Commissioners has agreed to cover the cost of employee health insurance premium increases, which in previous years, might have been passed on to employees. Additionally, the county will give employees a “health insurance premium holiday” resulting in no payroll deduction for health insurance premiums during the month of December – a time when most employees could use a little extra cash in their paychecks."
As a small business owner in Ada County, I am against these moves and moves such as this in general. I would like to see the county act more like a business. You don't see many private sector employees offering health insurance premium holidays or covering the costs of health insurance increases. Many "regular" employees in the private sector are seeing cuts to their health benefits and are seeing no merit pay raises, if they even still have a job. Private sector employees shouldn't then be expected to bear a tax burden to help fund added health benefits for county employees. Most taxpayers in Ada County would like to see a little extra cash in their bank accounts in December rather than seeing it go to the county to pay for a health insurance premium holiday for county employees. We should all share the burden and sacrifices of the current economic downturn.