Prior Manager Yates approved a costly policy change in 2023: While Ted Yates was village manager, without Council approval, he changed employee insurance coverage to include spouses, domestic partners, and children, with the Village covering nearly all of the added premium costs.  

Deception? In a final budget amendment approved by Council in December 2023, the employee insurance costs as changed by Yates were shown to have increased by $328,000 from the original $995,100 (to a total cost: $1,323,100) for the budget year. The staff report simply said the purpose of the amendment was “to reflect changes based on activity in the fiscal year.” No mention of the Yates policy change.

Continuing Impact: As more employee families are added, the costs have continued to escalate.  Insurance for employees has gone from the original $995,100 in the 2022-2023 budget to $2,296,804 in the proposed General Fund budget for 2025-2026.  There are also similar increases in employee insurance costs in Enterprise funds, covered by user fees, not taxes. (building department, wastewater, marina)

The current council does not believe it would be appropriate to take away this insurance benefit from current employees but have discussed not offering the same coverage for future employees.

During last year’s budget workshops, the council was provided a chart to show the cost to taxpayers of employee and family health insurance.  We could not find a similar chart for the 25 - 26 budget. Click here to see the cost of coverage for employee family members in current budget. Basically taxpayers now pay 100% of employees’ insurance and approximately 97% of insurance for family members.

Cost of Yate’s Action: The change in policy adopted by then Manager Ted Yates, without Council approval, may be now costing the Village as much as $1 million/year.

Lawsuit with Yates: In May 2024, Yates filed a lawsuit against the Village seeking monetary funds in excess of $100,000, and other relief, as a result of the Village failing to renew his contract in July 2023.

Status of lawsuit: The most recent court filing was a report on a mediation session 7/30/2025. Rules of confidentiality apply to the mediation, however, the report filed by the mediator stated: “The outcome was:   IMPASSE”  

We wonder: What is the penalty when a manager makes a decision, without authorization, that could cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars year after year after year? Perhaps the Village should sue Yates.