Multiple meetings could be on the horizon again for Indianola's lawmakers who met on Monday night and are still trying to hash out the details regarding the distribution of the city/employee contributions for health insurance.
The accepted insurance proposal is set to take effect July 1.
At a June 12 special meeting, (one of three for that week) the city leaders decided to move ahead with an option from Blue Cross Blue Shield that was presented by their broker Kent Barrett and passed on a 3-2 vote at a prior session.
Mayor Steve Rosenthal had reportedly voiced his intent to veto the decision because he didn't feel it was the best option, but he announced at the opening of the June 12 session that he had changed his mind citing that the vote would not likely change.
Barrett had presented three options and Alderman Ruben Woods eventually made a motion to accept option two and he and aldermen Sam Brock and Marvin Elder voted yes, which obligated the city to a $213,000 increase over last year's premium. Option two also sported a $39,000 increase over option three, with apparently very little change in coverage.
The city lawmakers met on three occasions between June 8 and June 12 and even after hearing another proposal from a Tennessee-based carrier, made no changes.
At the end of that session, Alderman Gary Fratesi challenged the board members who voted yes to option two to present ideas at Monday night's meeting on how they plan to pay for the increase since the city is likely facing a huge deficit due to a projected drop in sales tax revenue because of COVID-19.
When Fratesi asked for ideas on Monday night only Rosenthal submitted any options for review, which Fratesi denounced as not nearly enough to even cover the $39,000 difference between option two and three, not to mention the $213,444 increase.
“I'm waiting on some of our elected officials that voted for this to tell me how they're planning on paying for it," Fratesi said.
Alderman Ruben Woods responded, "Gary, you're trying to be a smart—— that's what you trying to do."
That remark sparked a short debate between Woods and Fratesi.
“No, you were the one running your mouth the other night and was all for it, now you tell us how to pay for it. I asked and gave you a warning to get ready for it," Fratesi said.
"You have no intention of trying to find out anything. We'll figure it out. We are in this together," said Woods.
Fratesi asserted, "I'm waiting on someone to tell me...At the very least we've got to collect the $40,000 difference between the two millages because that's what the aldermen decided they wanted, give them the extra $40,000 so they can have a lower deductible. So, I'm waiting to hear somebody tell me how we're going to collect that plus the $28,000 we collected last year, plus some more."
The city's employees are currently separated into five groups based on income with an hourly pay rate from $10 per hour to $18 per hour. There are now 36 employees that do not have to contribute anything to match the city's coverage payments so the other 64 employees carry the brunt of the employee match.
In the information presented on Monday night, Rosenthal suggested four other options that would require all employees to pay in, from as little as $20 per month with the lowest option to $30 per month at the highest option for the group that is presently not contributing.
The proposed combined contribution from all employees annually could range from $39,360 to $50,880 based on Rosenthal's suggestions.
"In the proposals you gave us Mayor, you didn't even get close to what we were getting last year," Fratesi stated. The city leaders appear to be of a consensus now that all employees need to pay something regardless of income.
One of the department heads present at the meeting emphasized that all employees should be required to pay the same and that the ones who make more should not be penalized to pay more while others pay nothing.
Municipal Court Clerk Teresa Nolden said, "If you're going to do it, go across the board with everybody. I'm not the only one that's saying this, I'm just speaking up."
Although the July 1 premium was budgeted, the city has to now come up with an additional $17,787 per month to cover the cost of the insurance for its employees.
Rosenthal said right now the city pays just under $4 per hour, per employee to cover the individuals’ insurance costs.
"So if somebody is making $8.50 (per hour) they're actually making $12 and something," he said.
Woods suggested putting a freeze on hiring and unnecessary purchasing as a means of coming up with the money.
"We've got money left over in the budget from some money that's not being spent on day-to-day operation, some money that's not being spent on filling positions," he said.
Rosenthal said a moratorium on unnecessary spending was already in place and mentioned that the projections show the city may be at a $100,000 shortfall in sales tax revenue.
"If we are $100,000 short that in itself is going to require us not only to not hire, but possibly look at furloughing," Rosenthal said.
Alderman Darrell Simpson suggested doubling the largest option presented by Rosenthal which would generate over $100,000. Simpson said doing that would cover one-third of the increase.
Under Simpson's proposal the 36 persons who are currently not paying anything at all would pay $720 dollars per year or $60 per month and the maximum amount paid by any city employee would be $1,440 per year.
Even though the taxpayers will still have to pay 70 percent of the proposed costs, Woods said that Simpson's suggestion was “a little steep” for the employees to pay.
Fratesi said, “Everything is steep. "I'm worried about everybody, I'm worried about them, but I'm also worried about the taxpayers."
Fratesi asserted that the city couldn't raise taxes enough to cover everything.
"We're getting behind every year, and it's not anybody's fault, but we can't repair streets because we don't have any money to buy the equipment or the stuff or hire anybody to do it because all of our money is going into the health insurance. the taxpayers are footing the bill and they're not getting anything out of it," Fratesi said.
He also mentioned budgetary issues included in this year's monetary fund such as police raises and more. Simpson made the motion to go with his suggestion with an addendum that if they find a way to reduce insurance cost later the savings go to the employees first. Fratesi seconded his motion although he added he was still wondering where they are going to come up with the money.
Alderman Marvin Elder interrupted the vote by raising issue with the wording on the agenda because the item was listed as “approval to discuss” and not “approval to vote.” He said they couldn't vote on it because of that. Woods sided with Elder saying that he didn't think the measure would be voted on either.
However, Rosenthal followed through citing there was a motion on the floor that had been seconded. Simpson's motion failed 3 to 2 and no other options were presented.
Afterwards Rosenthal questioned how the agenda item should have been worded so that there will be no confusion next time. "You tell me how to word it so it's open instead of copping out on making decisions. I just want to make sure I can correct whatever it is y'all say is wrong," Rosenthal said.
Fratesi and Simpson then challenged the aldermen to come up with an alternative and reminded them that they were all challenged at the previous meeting to come up with a solution for this meeting. Woods said "Let us look at it 'cause we're going to have to have a special call meeting anyway."
"What does everybody think would be a good number to try to generate from the employee share of the $213,000 increase? Y'all come up with a dollar y'all think we need to generate and I can come up with four or five different options that will generate that money, Rosenthal said.
Fratesi asked Rosenthal how much money was available to spend on insurance and Rosenthal said he didn't have those figures available. The alderman apparently have not received the required financial report in a while. "We should be able to get a financial report at our next meeting," Rosenthal said.
According to information handed out at the meeting the city is currently paying $8,167.80 per month, per employee, which is up $2,134.47 from the $6,033.33 they paid out last year.
No definite date was set for a subsequent call meeting. Rosenthal said the decision needs to be made prior to the insurance coverage taking effect July 1.
In other business,
Alderman Sam Brock raised an issue with cell phone use while on the job and suggested that a policy be implemented to address it.
All of the lawmakers appeared to be in favor of it except Elder. However, they did vote unanimously to get Attorney Kim Merchant to draft a cell phone policy that addresses personal use on city work time and while driving city-owned vehicles.
Brock also wanted to discuss the issue of hazard pay for the workers who stayed on the job during the coronavirus outbreak, but he alluded to the previous conversation regarding the lack of funds and declined to discuss it.
Merchant informed them that a policy had to be in effect prior to an emergency declaration so the city leaders asked her to draft a policy for use in the future.
Clarification: Last week, The E-T referred to Lee Rogers as a broker for the City of Indianola. He is actually a paid consultant for the city and not the broker. We apologize for the error.
