MACERA

JOHNSTON — A string of unforeseen expenses in the town’s self-insured health-care program might have pushed municipal spending over budget by as much as $800,000 during the most recent fiscal year, Mayor William R. Macera said yesterday.

Macera emphasized that the $800,000 shortfall is a preliminary estimate and that he hopes he can lower the figure by contesting certain medical expenses and seeking reimbursement for others. Officials haven’t yet assessed the extent of the potential reduction, he said.

“I want to get to the bottom of it,” he said.

In the meantime, auditors are working on an official accounting of the town’s finances in the fiscal year that ended June 30.

About $800,000 in out-of-budget municipal expenses during that period would add new freight to the deficit being shouldered by Johnston taxpayers.

Officials already expect the town’s accumulated education deficit to grow from about $5 million to $6.7 million.

Another $800,000 deficit on the municipal side would bring the total to about $7.5 million, unless municipal officials devote about $4.9 million in reserve to reduce the deficit — something they’ve resisted so far.

The new municipal deficit stems from unforeseen expenses in the health-care program offered to municipal employees, including the mayor himself.

The program is self-insured, which is another way of saying that the town must budget money for its employees’ medical expenses.

Blue Cross Blue Shield, the administrator of the program, pays the bills as they come in and then receives reimbursements from the town.

Of course, predicting medical bills is far from an exact science. Blue Cross tries to provide ballpark guidelines for budgeting purposes, said the town’s finance director, Richard F. Connors.

The municipality had budgeted about $4.5 million for the last fiscal year, Connors said. That amount included a 4-percent increase recommended by the administrator, he said.

But medical expenses surpassed that last year.

“It was a bad year, unlike the previous three years,” Connors said.

This is the first time the town has seen overruns in the program, according to the mayor. He credited town-sponsored wellness initiatives that help keep employees in good health.

Macera said he doesn’t know whether the preliminary $800,000 deficit figure includes his own medical bills.

The figure could change, he said, if it includes bills that were supposed to be covered by the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, in Boston.

Macera said that Dana Farber administering his medication was part of an experimental program that was to be covered by the institute, not him.

The town should be reimbursed if it paid the bills, he said. He said he did not know the cost of the treatment.