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