NATCHEZ — The cost for Adams County employees to use their health benefits is about to go up.

Starting April 1, employees on the county’s Blue Cross Blue Shield plan will be paying more for hospital stays and emergency room visits, co-pays for doctor’s visits and some prescription drugs.

The Adams County Board of Supervisors also voted to continue using Blue Cross Blue Shield as their provider at Monday’s meeting.

And Monday’s meeting, attended only by supervisors Mike Lazarus, S.E. “Spanky” Felter and board president Henry Watts, was a long one — it lasted approximately six hours.

Adams County Administrator Cathy Walker was quick to point out that employee’s benefits are not changing, just the amount they pay to utilized those benefits.

“To be able to keep the benefits we have, we had to make some changes,” Walker said.

Now, county employees will pay $500 for hospital stays and ER visits, up from $400, co-pays will now be $30, up from $20, and level one prescription drugs, which cover most generic drugs, will be $15, up from $10.

The recent changes came about when the county began making plans to renew its county employee insurance policy and found their cost to provide insurance to employees was going up by approximately $20,000.

Walker said the county spends approximately $1 million a year on insurance.

The newly raised rates are projected to result in an $80,000 savings to the county.

But Walker said it’s difficult to say exactly how much the county will save since the number of insured employees utilizing their benefits cannot be specified.

After the $20,000 hike on the county’s end goes into effect, the county should be saving approximately $60,000 yearly, including the rate hike for employees.

Supervisor Mike Lazarus said he did not want to pass cost increases on to county employees, but did want to make sure the county could continue to use Blue Cross.

“It’s good insurance,” he said. “And we want to keep what we’ve got.”

In other news, the trio of supervisors met with County Engineer Jim Marlow to discuss road repairs throughout the county.

While no official action was taken on the matter, the board instructed Marlow to begin evaluating roads in need of repair and then making plans to begin the work.

The plan was dubbed, “The Spanky Plan.”

Felter said he felt the roads in the most densely populated areas of the county should be repaired first, in order to the greatest good for the greatest about of people.

“We need to start looking at neighborhoods first,” Felter said. “And make sure the work gets done.”

And while there is no sure funding source for the project, the supervisors said they won’t be waiting for the federal government’s stimulus package to help.

Lazarus said the board will likely borrow the money to do the work.

“We’re making arrangements to borrow the money if it all sounds good,” he said.

The board also instructed board attorney Bobby Cox to set up a meeting between the board and bond attorneys from the Butler Snow law firm, of Jackson, so board can get current information on interest rates and ask questions about the money they hope to borrow.

While the board does not have a firm dollar amount set, some estimates on the work reached $5 million.

The board also entered executive session once during the meeting, citing pending litigation, to discuss a road project on Hobo Forks Road in relation to the new Corrections Corporation of America prison.

That session lasted approximately two hours, and Watts said it ended with no official action taken.

Supervisor Darryl Grennell was on other county business and supervisor Thomas “Boo” Campbell could not be reached for comment.