johnson060608

Minneapolis schools, ex-board member to settle unpaid premiums

Last update: June 5, 2008 - 11:23 PM

The long dispute between Minneapolis schools and a former school board member over $29,000 in unpaid insurance premiums is headed for resolution.

A settlement to be voted on Tuesday by the board would resolve its claims against Audrey Johnson for $18,000 -- assuming she pays up by the end of the month.

Johnson said in an e-mail Thursday that she's glad to have the matter resolved. It dates to 2000, the first in a series of years in which Johnson obtained family health coverage but the district's computers didn't deduct all or part of her premiums.

Johnson said she tried to correct the computer issue with administrators without success. The district sued her last fall to collect. It said that when the cost of her premiums exceeded her board compensation, the computer didn't deduct anything for health coverage.

The settlement would require Johnson to pay the full amount due unless she pays $18,000 by the end of the month, which she said she intends to do.

"Hopefully, the mistakes the district made in this matter have been corrected and will not happen again to anyone else. I wasn't the first, I hope I am the last," she said in her e-mail. Johnson returned this year from several months of work in the Antarctic.

Margaret Westin, the district's general counsel, said that the recovery on Johnson's health premiums was higher than for most debt-collection efforts and it made sense to settle.

The deal also resolves a counter-claim Johnson filed against the district, alleging that a present or former district employee had leaked news of her debt in 2005 to the Star Tribune, which revealed the unpaid premiums.

STEVE BRANDT