02 City Council (01/12/04) - Laserfiche WebLink

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Regular City Council Meeting January 12 , 2004 Page 25 20 years and be 55 to meet the minimum requirement. He also explained that in TMRS, the employee would have to be 60 to draw the retirement. Councilman Guest said that Exhibit 5 was an attachment on car allowance, which was another thing they discussed. He indicated the last four listed were for the Health Department. Councilman Plata felt like the allowances needed to be cut or at least reduced. Councilman Guest, in summary, said that retirement and health benefits accounted for nearly 50% what is left of the property taxes. He reminded the Council that for every $107, 000.00 trimmed from the budget represented a penny of tax per $100.00 property valuation. He also stated that property taxes are not the largest source of income for the city, but it basically balances the books. Revenues also come from sales tax, fees and money for services performed. Councilman Guest said the only monetary beneficial recommendation was on the changes to the health insurance but the members of the committee had individual opinions concerning the direction of future benefit considerations. He felt that although it began as a process to review and possibly inform, it became a process of gathering information, which the committee is respectfully submitting to the Council. Councilman Bell said the City is at the higher end on the property tax rate and the water rate. The Council needs to see what they can do to keep competitive with the employees and benefits and at the same time, hold the line on the property tax and water rates. He felt there were innovative ways to address these things. Mayor Fendley said everyone needs to look at these recommendations and think about what needs to be done, so it can be discussed in a future Council Meeting., before budget time. He said that they will discuss this in March and make recommendations to staff.