Unvaccinated Starkville city employees will have a few more months before their insurance increases.

The board of aldermen passed a policy in September requiring unvaccinated employees to wear masks in all indoor locations and pay a $75 monthly increase on medical insurance. The insurance surcharge was to be enacted Dec. 1, but on Tuesday the board approved to delay the increase until Feb. 1.

After lengthy discussion of the topic and a vote of 4-3, the board decided to delay the surcharge because of legal developments that have occurred since the city initially passed the policy. While several institutions have passed vaccine mandate policies and regulations, such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, board attorney Chris Latimer said what he thinks most applies to the city is a frequently asked questions and guidance document produced by the U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Treasury, regarding wellness programs, or in this case, vaccine mandates.

“The city’s policy of Sept. 7 is what is on the books and what is preempting it, and nothing is superseding it at this point,” board attorney Chris Latimer told the board at Tuesday’s meeting. “The guidance that has been promulgated since the city enacted the policy in the first place is the series of frequently asked questions and guidance by the U.S. Department of Labor, Health and Human Services and Treasury.”

Latimer said an activity based wellness program that is a vaccine policy with a surcharge is legal if it meets a five-part criteria. Starkville meets all criteria except for one that states the city must allow for a reasonable alternative standard in the place of the insurance increase. Latimer said he believes the city could be in legal trouble in the future if it does not offer this alternative.

Latimer said the board would decide on what the alternative would be, whether that be weekly testing or something else. Because several aldermen expressed not wanting to rush into deciding what that alternative would be Tuesday, Ward 3 Alderman Jeffrey Rupp moved for a delay in the surcharge to see if anything “takes care of itself” — if any case law is developed or if the city comes up with an alternative.

“My motion was made because of the ambiguity and uncertainty I see in the medical profession and the legal profession and the community,” Rupp said. “I believe it is going to evolve in the coming weeks, and I see it on this board. I thought by pushing it out to Feb. 1, it gives us time to gather that information and to see if things go one way or another.”

As of Tuesday, only 47.72 percent of city employees are vaccinated — 157 employees — meaning 172 employees are not. If this number stays the same, the city will receive $154,800 yearly from insurance surcharges.

Ward 2 Alderman Sandra Sistrunk, who serves as the board’s budget chairwoman, said the city has already had one COVID-19 insurance claim this year from an employee and will have to pay $200,000 for the costs. One year of every unvaccinated employee’s insurance surcharges would not cover this single instance.

“That claim impacts us directly by having to pay the $200,000, and it impacts us indirectly in that it gets factored into our experience for three years,” Sistrunk said. “It will drive up our insurance costs for three years coming.”

Sistrunk, who voted against the surcharge delay, said she believes employees have had ample time to get vaccinated, and she does not believe two months will make a difference with anything.

“I think the only thing that we’re likely to know is that going an additional 60 days without having people be vaccinated will be an increase in the number of cases,” Sistrunk said. “Over the last week, there’s been a 10-percent increase in cases nationally.”

Ward 1 Alderman Ben Carver attempted to strike the surcharge altogether from the policy, citing the decrease in COVID-19 cases over the last few months and how the holiday season can be financially difficult for some individuals. He also pointed out the city is proud of events like Bulldog Bash, where 30,000 people gathered not wearing masks, but is still requiring its unvaccinated employees to pay for insurance increases.

His motion ultimately failed 5-2, with Ward 7 Alderman Henry Vaughn voting with Carver.

“We applaud massive crowds and football stadiums and arenas all over the nation,” Carver said. “We put 100,000 people in a 150-yard circle. Those are just instances where we have failed horribly as a society. We’re literally going to applaud putting people shoulder-to-shoulder at a concert.”