Kenosha County Executive Jim Kreuser has nixed a County Board budget amendment that strengthened supervisors’ health insurance benefits.

Exercising the executive’s seldom-used veto powers Friday, Kreuser reversed a change that would have relieved supervisors from having to contribute 15 percent of their county health insurance premiums.

“I am exercising the county executive’s veto authority in the spirit of the shared sacrifices made by most of our Kenosha County employees to help us address an anticipated $5 million deficit for 2010,” Kreuser said in a news conference in his office.

Board Chairman Joe Clark, alongside Kreuser at the news conference, said he agreed the veto was the most expedient way to undo the board’s actions, which he opposed.

Vote was 14-13

As budget adoption deliberations dragged on late Tuesday, the board voted 14-13 on a motion by Supervisor Jim Huff to eliminate the requirement of supervisors to contribute to their county health insurance premiums. The change would have had a $50,573 impact on the county’s tax levy.

Kreuser’s original budget — and now his veto — sets a 15 percent contribution in 2010. The zero-contribution vote came after the board rejected another amendment to boost the contribution to 50 percent.

Huff later said he made the motion because he believes the board’s insurance should be on par with that of other county employees, if supervisors are to have any insurance at all. Other employees do not contribute to their premiums under the county’s co-pay-heavy self-insured plan.

Supervisor Jennifer Jackson on Wednesday called for a motion to reconsider, stating she did not realize what she was voting for when she supported Huff’s motion Tuesday night. Jackson attended Kreuser’s news conference Friday.

Kreuser’s veto negates the need to open up the entire budget for reconsideration — a legal necessity because Huff’s motion came as an amendment to the budget.

A two-thirds majority would be needed to override the veto at the board’s next meeting, at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the county Administration Building, 1010 56th St.

“The County Board, I believe, will support the county executive’s position overwhelmingly,” Clark said Friday.

Two change course

Two supervisors who voted for the Huff amendment said Friday they believed the situation was an embarrassment to the board, and that they were fully behind sustaining Kreuser’s veto.

“I want to do whatever will guarantee the reversal,” said Supervisor Mark Molinaro Jr. “Whatever we believe is the best opportunity to reverse this is the way we ought to present it on the County Board floor.”

Molinaro said he planned to make further comments about his vote at the upcoming meeting.

Supervisor Dennis Elverman said he voted for the premium reduction as a reaction to the theatrics of the moment.

Elverman, who first backed a premium contribution for supervisors when he was board chairman in 2005, said the late-night board compensation discussion was a poorly handled situation that should have been addressed on the committee level.

“It’s an embarrassment for us,” Elverman said. “I have to look at my record of voting over the years and especially on recent things. I’ve got a pretty good conservative voting record.”

County supervisors are paid $6,000 per year and are afforded the option of enrolling in county insurance.

Seventeen of the board’s 28 supervisors are enrolled in the plan, with two more taking dental benefits only. The county budgeted $286,586 for supervisor insurance next year — a figure that would swell to $337,159 with the Huff amendment.