Canal Winchester Public Works director Matt Peoples told village council last week that health care costs will increase by 12 percent in 2010.

After council's Nov. 2 meeting, Peoples said he and other staffers are working on changes to hold the line on 2011 health care costs that could increase 25 percent above the 2010 figures.Village council heard the first reading last week of an ordinance to enter into a new three-year joint self-insurance agreement with the Central Ohio Health Care Consortium. Other members of the consortium include Gahanna, Grove City, Obetz, Granville, New Albany and Worthington.

Driving up village health care costs are recent greater-than-average use by the village's roughly 30 employees.

In past years, utilization was low. But recently, Canal Winchester has paid more than $100,000 above its paid premiums.

"We're self-insured," Peoples said after the meeting. While the consortium provides "some buffering capacity, other members are not expected to take the hit for us," he said.

"We haven't taken a hit like this since I've started on the consortium (in 2004)," Peoples said.Finance director Nanisa Osborn said Canal Winchester pays more than $30,000 a month, or about $375,000 annually, for health care benefits.

To forestall even larger increases in village health care costs in 2011, Peoples said he and staff members will examine higher-deductible plans.

Employees, he said, will be expected to share some of the burden of increased health care costs.In other news, the village received a petition from 70 residents last week complaining about speeders on Dietz and Thrush drives. The residents want stop signs installed.

Council president Rick Deeds said that while speeding on Dietz Drive has been investigated by council in the past, the problem apparently persists and the safety committee will reexamine the issue.

"There's a considerable amount of speeding, and this is worth another look," Councilman Victor Paini said.

The petition asks the village "to develop, enact and supervise the enforcement of the speed limit on Dietz and Thrush drives." It says safety concerns associated with more traffic on those streets are magnified "by the unsafe driving conditions of excessive speed. Failure to take corrective action by the village council could result in a tragic accident."

In a typed letter accompanying the petition, Dietz Drive resident Linda Sabo said she has seen patrolmen issuing tickets to young drivers and to heavy-equipment operators.

"The first week of school this year, I rushed to the front of my home after hearing squealing tires and a human scream," she wrote.Deeds suggested traffic "humps" on Dietz and Thrush drives such as those he's seen in Dublin. But Sabo said "speed bumps" create new problems. such as "speeders ignoring the bumps and losing control, wrecking their vehicle and surroundings."

Fairfield County Sheriff's Deputy Sgt. K.C. Kern told council that officers have spent extra time over the past two months at Dietz and Thrush drives.