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ARDEN HILLS CONTINUED CITY COUNCIL – NOVEMBER 20, 2017 3 <br /> <br />Interim Director of Finance and Administrative Services Perrault reported this was the case <br />for the cities he researched. He noted Arden Hills was the lowest ranked city for its health savings <br />contribution. He encouraged the Council to consider what was reasonable for employees to pay <br />for their insurance plan. <br /> <br />City Administrator Joynes stated he would like to limit the impact to employees with the <br />understanding rates have gone up. <br /> <br />Councilmember Holmes believed the Council would be foolish to make a decision without <br />having full information. She questioned why the City was proposing to provide free healthcare to <br />its single employees when this was not done anywhere else in the private sector. <br /> <br />Interim Director of Finance and Administrative Services Perrault discussed several options <br />available to the Council for family coverage and suggested 80% with a $2,000 HSA contribution <br />be considered. <br /> <br />Councilmember Holden commented on how the employees threatened to quit when the HSA <br />contribution was reduced from $3,000 to $1,650. <br /> <br />Mayor Grant discussed the coverage he received in the private sector. <br /> <br />Interim Director of Finance and Administrative Services Perrault indicated this was a <br />different market than the private sector. <br /> <br />Councilmember Scott stated he could support the coverage at 80% with a $2,000 HSA <br />contribution as proposed by staff. <br /> <br />Mayor Grant indicated he could not go above $1,650 for the HSA contribution for 2018. <br /> <br />Councilmember Holden commented she could not support a $22,600 increase for health <br />benefits. She asked if the $1,650 would be applied to single employees. <br /> <br />Mayor Grant stated he was proposing an HSA contribution of $1,650 for all employees, whether <br />they have single or family coverage. He questioned what the financial impact of this adjustment <br />would be. <br /> <br />Interim Director of Finance and Administrative Services Perrault estimated this would be an <br />increase in benefits that would equate to $18,000 for the year. <br /> <br />Councilmember Holmes stated she supported the benefits package remaining the same, both for <br />the HSA and the premium contribution. She did not believe it would benefit the City to increase <br />the HSA contribution in 2018 if it could be impacted again in 2019. <br /> <br />City Administrator Joynes reported the recommendation from staff was to make the City <br />competitive in the labor market. He stated the basis was for the City to have high quality <br />employees when moving forward with TCAAP and insurance was a major factor. He feared how <br />the City would be impacted if it did not start offering better insurance packages to its employees.