The January 3 Paullina Council meeting held several very long discussions. Up for final decision is how much the employee contribution for family insurance coverage would be for the year. The Insurance coverage rate was just increased due to heavy claims in the most recent year.
For as long as anyone can remember without digging through old records, the city has paid the full cost of single coverage for every employee. In addition, the city has picked up 85% of the family cost for each employee taking that option. That leaves the employee portion for a family insurance policy at 15%.
The 2022 insurance rates for a single employee were $657.30 per month. The insurance perk for EACH employee last calendar year was $7887.60. For employees taking family insurance the premium was $1643.33. Premiums for each employee would have reached $19,719.96 in calendar 2022 had staffing remained stable throughout the year.
The current annual premium for a single person policy is $9243.72 for every employee in the coming year. Seven employees brings starting insurance cost to the city of $64,706.04. The family portion for four employees still needs to be calculated. That was the major discussion.
A family policy currently costs $1925.87 per enrolled family each month. Over the coming year, that is a gross cost to the city of $23,110.44 per family. There are four employees taking family coverage. That is a cost for the 2023 calendar year of $92,441.76. The city will pick up $$36,974.88 leaving $55,466.88 to divide between the four employees and the City. That breaks down to $13,866.72 per employee per year, or $533.34 per pay period. The question debated was, “Should the employee contribution for family coverage be 15% or 20%?”
There are 26 pay periods each year. Councilperson Carol Honkomp led the discussion. She was the councilperson who collected the premium figures for both years and calculated the various costs considered. She reported that at the current contribution level of 15% each employee taking family coverage would pay $80.00 per pay period. At 20% the cost to each of the four employees would increase to $106.67. At 25% the employee contribution would be $133.34. At 20% the savings to the city would be $1280.16 for the year. At 25% that savings would be $2560.32.
Council, not wanting to change the compensation structure to employees while employees are difficult to recruit voted 3-2 to keep the 15% cost share. Honkomp and Jay Jones, the two appointees to the employee committee in the coming year, were the dissenting votes.