"It's a start," Grove City Area School Board Director James Crow said Monday after the board voted to start making top administrators pay a share of their health care costs.

Superintendent Dr. Robert Post and assistant superintendent Thomas Bell will pay $50 a month toward dependent hospital insurance as of July 1.

"This is an important first step as we've discussed," board President Stephen Gould said. "It's something that future school boards will need to address."

School districts across the state have been struggling with rising health care costs and Grove City is no exception, with a 27 percent increase in teacher's health care insurance premiums over this year. The increase -- about $425,000 -- is the main reason the school gave for raising real estate taxes one mill next year.

Gould said that the public sector was the only place left where workers don't pay toward their hospitalization costs. "Thank you for your willingness," Gould told the administrators. The board voted unanimously to accept the measure.

Paying the $50 a month should be no problem for Post and Bell since their salaries were set at $101,817 and $89,801, respectively, at the school board meeting.

Post has been with the district for 19 years and Bell for four years. Gould said that their salaries reflect a 3.3 percent increase beyond the adjustment to get them at the midpoint of school administrators salaries across the state.

The salary increase was approved 7-1, with board member Sue Schepp voting against it. Board member Doug Thomas was not at the meeting.