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City of Paris Council Benefits Subcommittee <br /> May 4, 2004 <br /> Page 5 <br /> <br />motion carried unanimously. <br /> <br />Chairman Guest called for discussion of city policy and possible <br />recommendation to the City Council regarding retiree benefits and asked Mr. <br />Anderson what were those benefits. <br /> <br />Mr. Anderson advised that the only benefits that the retirees have is if they are <br />under the age of 65 they are allowed to continue to have coverage through the <br />cities' insurance plan until they reach the age of 65. If for some reason they <br />become Medicare eligible through disability or some other reason, they do not <br />go otfthe plan on the disability but the plan becomes secondary and Medicare <br />becomes primary. <br /> <br />Councilman Bell asked how many retirees were covered on this plan. Mr. <br />Anderson advised that there were 23 retirees. Councilman Bell pointed out that <br />those 23 people are a cost factor that is causing the current employee's insurance <br />to go up because that is not free and the city is paying for that insurance and <br />when you factor in 23 employees with $128,000.00 loss toward the self-insured <br />plan, which he was promoting... He thought they wanted to save money, but <br />when you are factoring in $128,000.00 or more in losses, it is costing the current <br />employees. Councilman Bell asked the employees in the audience if they knew <br />that they are paying the retirees benefits and cost on insurance and asked them <br />to please stand up. Most all of the employees stood up. <br /> <br />Mr. Anderson said that if an employee retired and they have dependent coverage <br />such as a spouse, the spouse is allowed to stay on the plan the same as the age <br />65 rule. The dependents do contribute to the cost of the plan, and in the most <br />resent year with the ones that are actually covered at this point, they contributed <br />SB 1,800.00 toward that. He said you would have to net that contribution against <br />the $128,000.00 worth of claims to get the net cost. <br /> <br /> Councilman Bell said he was surprised to find out that this many people here <br /> tonight were aware of the fact that cost is being added in. He said it is going to <br /> <br /> <br />