Latta town council: Town shouldn’t be footing mayor’s health insurance bill

LATTA, S.C.(WBTW)-Latta town council members are upset with the mayor…again. They’ve still not forgotten the way he fired the town’s police chief last year. but this time, council says mayor Earl Bullard’s actions affect more than just town leaders and employees. At town hall administration and some city employees don’t like the way things are being done in Latta. But one councilman says it’s not just an administration tiff. It’s affecting tax payers.

“The major issue and the major problem with council is that Latta is a very poor town,” said Jarett Taylor, Latta councilman.

Jarett Taylor is a Latta town councilman and he says he is worried about his fellow citizens.

“There are people in this town who probably don’t have any insurance and they’re paying for the mayor’s insurance wrongfully so.”

That was a hot topic at Thursday night’s meeting. Last night, city council learned the mayor was receiving benefits paid by Latta tax payers that no other elected officials are getting.

“There are no ordinances on the town of Latta ordinances book stating that council or mayors can get healthcare benefits or retirement.”

But when news13 asked the mayor about this, he sent us this statement that he says was straight from the public employee benefit authority stating quote “any elected official in the state of South Carolina is eligible to participate in the state health insurance that they offer and the retirement system.”

But news13 obtained a voicemail which was from a PEBA employee.

“I spoke with our legal department and they advised me that so long as the mayor is part of a council and it was voted by council members to participate in the insurance, then they are eligible for insurance benefits,” said a PEBA representative.

But council says, “the problem is that council never decided to have it.”

The mayor would not talk to news13 on camera. He said he believes this issue will have to be settled out in a court of law. The mayor emphasized over and over he’s done nothing wrong and he’s not sure why no one on council takes advantage of the benefits.