City Council to Discuss Cuts to Retiree Health Care

St. Charles City Council members are expected to discuss changes to the city retiree healthcare plan during a work session Tuesday night.

Currently, retirees and their spouses can pay for health care through the City of St. Charles until they are eligible for Medicare at age 65. The city pays 80 percent of the cost, while the employee pays 20 percent.

The administration has proposed eliminating retiree benefits for new city employees hired after Jan. 1, 2011 and making significant changes to the benefits offered to current and future retirees in an effort to reduce costs.

Those changes would take effect starting Feb. 1, 2012, if the plan is approved by the city council.

One benefit that might go away is the monthly Medicare supplement of $125.

The council is also expected to set the amount of money the city will contribute each month for health care for current retirees and future retirees hired before Jan. 1, 2011. 

Also on the agenda for tonight's meeting is a discussion about filling several vacant positions in the city. 

City Council president Mike Klinghammer of Ward 8, asked the city council to delay voting on those positions until the April 12 meeting so they could look at city funding levels to make sure the money is available. 

Klinghammer said the council will start receiving quarterly reports about revenue and expenses. He said that interest the city earns on the portfolio of bonds is expected to be significantly lower than anticipated. 

Director of Administration Michael Spurgeon said those reports should be available to the council around April 18 or 19. He said if there is an issue with funding the positions the council would have to make decisions about the priorities for hiring. 

One of the open position is a project manager position in the Public Works Department that opened up after someone was promoted to a senior project manager position. 

According to a memo from the Debbie Aylsworth, director of public works, the city project managers are working 45 to 50 hours a week to keep up with the projects now that there is an empty position. She said in the memo that eight projects would be delayed if the position wasn't filled soon. 

The other open positions are: 

- full-time fleet maintenance supervisor for Street Division 

- part-time administrative assistant for Street Division

- full-time administrative assistant for Department of Community Development

- full-time administrative assistant for Department of Public Works 

- full-time School Resource Officer/Drug Abuse Resistance Education Police Officer and Police Officer

-  full-time administrative support position for Department of Human Resources

- full-time human resources generalist senior position for Department of Human Resources 

See the full agenda for the city council work session and city council meeting here and here.