CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS) — The PEIA Finance Board approved on Thursday a three percent deductible increase, along with a $200 increase in the spousal surcharge.

Over the last three years public employees have been subject to nearly a 50% increase in PEIA deductibles, something that people like Josh Keck, who is a professor at Mountwest Community and Technical College said has put public employees between a rock and a hard place financially.

“So you add that on top of all the other regular cost of living increases. I mean rent prices are insane. Housing prices are insane, new car prices are insane,” Keck said. “So you add all that on top of it. I mean every year for the last three years has been worse and worse and worse to where my budget doesn’t work anymore.”

The main thing raising concerns from many families on PEIA is the approved $200 increase to the spousal surcharge. For Keck that would make his spousal surcharge per month over $500.

“I took a big pay cut to go from private industry to teaching and that was predominantly because of PEIA ,and the family plan being as cheap as it was,” Keck said. “But with this spousal surcharge, that’s pretty much killed my budget. I have no ability now to save for retirement outside of the minimum that they take out of my check.”

Education West Virginia Co-President Dale Lee has contended throughout the PEIA public hearings over the last month that if premiums and deductibles are based on a tier system that is based on someone’s ability to pay then it should also be applied to the spousal surcharge.

“That should be based on the ability to pay to,” Lee said. “It just seems right that someone making $200,000 a year shouldn’t pay the same price as somebody making $20,000.”

The approved increases are set to go into effect July 1, 2026, but Lee said if state lawmakers act in the upcoming legislative session the increases can be avoided.

“If the legislature acts on some things like for the spouse surcharge, for example, if they change the statute where that is based on your ability to pay rather than the actual cost of the plan, that can change,” Lee said.

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It’s clear Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and the Chicago City Council are no closer to reaching a budget deal, as top financial officials in the mayor’s administration have largely rejected the alternative budget plan presented by council members.

The 2026 budget plan needs to be approved by the mayor and at least 26 of the 50 alders by the end of the year. In October, Johnson presented his plan, which included a $21 per employee corporate head tax on the city’s largest companies each month, plus a host of other taxes. A month later, the mayor’s revenue ideas were soundly rejected by the council’s Finance Committee.

Alders began crafting their own plan, and 26 of them signed a letter Tuesday presenting an alternative proposal. The alternate plan took out the corporate head tax, replacing it instead with items like an increased garbage fee, with an exemption for seniors, and an increased liquor tax at liquor stores.

The mayor’s financial team — Chief Financial Officer Jill Jaworski, Budget Director Annette Guzman and City Comptroller Michael Belsky — responded to the alders Thursday, thanking them for their plan but rebuking several of their proposals, saying, for example, that an improved debt collection plan, is “not supported by legal, financial, or operational realities.” The mayor’s administration said increasing the garbage collection fee from $9.50 to $18 per month would represent a 90 percent increase in a year, which would be a financial hardship for families.

“At a time when many communities are already experiencing substantial property tax increases through the recent property assessments conducted by the Cook County Assessor and the appeals approved by the Board of Review, imposing another major cost escalation would create an immediate and disproportionate burden on households least able to absorb it,” Jaworski, Guzman and Belsky wrote in a joint statement to the 26 alders.

The mayor’s team also made it clear the corporate head tax — which it calls a “Community Safety Surcharge” — will stay in the budget proposal, despite objections from more than half the council. Opponents of the head tax call it a “job killer.” The mayor’s team challenged that notion, saying the assertion that it would “disincentivize economic growth is not substantiated by data.”

“The assumption that corporate taxation directly affects employment growth lacks empirical support. By investing in proven community safety interventions, we are making Chicago better for businesses. A progressive revenue like the Community Safety Surcharge, one that asks those who have benefited the most from the city’s growth and prosperity to contribute their fair share, is not a threat to prosperity, but a prerequisite,” Jaworski, Guzman and Belsky wrote in a joint statement to the 26 alders.

Ald. Nicole Lee and Ald. Scott Waguespack responded to the mayor’s administration’s rebuke of their alternate proposal, disagreeing with their assessment.

“The mayor’s office has offered no new ideas – only criticisms of our work. This is not anyone’s idea of actual collaboration,” Lee said.

“It is time for Mayor Johnson to accept the reality that his budget is not going to pass as is,” Waguespack said. “We will take the necessary steps required to move this process forward on our own.”

The city paid the accounting firm Ernst and Young $3 million to outline efficiencies that could help Chicago close its billion-dollar gap in its $16 billion 2026 budget. Among the options in the report: consolidating city purchasing and fleet management, streamlining city departments and better managing health care costs.

Alders have urged Johnson to adopt more recommendations from the report, but his finance team responded in their memo Thursday, saying, “It is important to note that the City’s Financial and Strategic Reform Options report presents a set of options for consideration—not mandates.”

The mayor’s administration noted that it has made changes to its own initial proposal, including the full restoration of the Chicago Public Library’s circulation budget, additional money for the advanced pension payment, more funding for community programs and upping a program that helps low-income people with disabilities make their homes more accessible.