The Town of Clayton is asking its employees to take a financial stake in their physical health. This might well be the most innovative idea to ever come out of a town hall in Johnston County.

In Clayton, taxpayers spend about $1 million a year on health insurance for the town's 170 employees. That's a lot of money, and last week, the Town Council moved to contain that expense to taxpayers. In short, the town is telling its employees to get fit (or fitter) or start paying 10 percent of their health-insurance premium. That would cost the average employee about $600 a year.

This has long been one of the criticisms of employer-paid health plans: Because employees bear little or no cost, they don't think a lot about their health, and then, when they get sick, they don't think about the cost of medical tests and procedures. Last week, Clayton leaders moved to reverse that perverse incentive to be unhealthy.

Lest anyone think Clayton is simply trying to get employees to share in health-care costs, the program's wellness requirements are hardly designed to ensure failure. In the coming year, employees must earn 20 wellness points to keep the town paying the entire cost of their premiums. But a gym membership is worth 10 points, and so is a weight-loss program. And by the way, the town will give employees up to $150 a year toward that gym membership or weight-loss program.

Taxpayers might wonder what they're getting out of this. In the first year, perhaps not much, particularly if every employee takes advantage of the $150 in reimbursements. That would be some $25,000 on top of the $1 million for insurance premiums. But if every employee gets fit and stays that way, then growth in insurance premiums paid by taxpayers will be slow. Insurers look at claims history when setting rates, and Clayton's claims will be fewer if its workforce is healthy. This is a win-win situation for employees and taxpayers.

Innovation in local government is rarer than it ought to be. Here's to Clayton for creating a program that stands to benefit taxpayers and the people who work for them.