Health care costs cause Sidney to trim budget

Sidney was forced to make some tough decisions regarding the 2014-2015 proposed budget once staff learned of major increases in health care costs for the coming year.

“We did have some unexpected challenges with health insurance costs,” said City Manager Gary Person at Tuesday’s city council meeting.

Person attributed cost increases to the Affordable Care Act as well as some of the claim history the city experienced over the past year. The city was not prepared for such major increases.

“As a result, we had to go back to the drawing board,” Person said.

The city cut around $50...