Item 3A - Minutes Approval - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

M I N U T E S ATTACHMENT D Eugene City Council Work Session McNutt Room--Eugene City Hall October 13, 2004 Noon COUNCILORS PRESENT: George Poling, Scott Meisner, Nancy Nathanson, David Kelly, Betty Taylor, Bonny Bettman, Gary Pap~, Jennifer Solomon. Mayor James D. Torrey called the meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. A. WORK SESSION: Health and Benefits Fund (Fund 623) Update City Manager Dennis Taylor introduced Risk and Benefits Manager Myrnie Daut, who was present to discuss Fund 623, the Health and Benefits Fund. He emphasized the importance of the topic to the City's budget-setting process. Ms. Daut introduced benefits consultants Del Johnson and Greg O'Hanlon of Willis of Oregon, Inc., who were present to answer questions. Ms. Daut provided a PowerPoint presentation regarding the fund. She provided an overview of the fund, and the programs it supported. She briefly described the rates-setting process and noted the executive managers' role in overseeing that process. Ms. Daut overviewed the benefits programs offered by the City to its employees and noted the role played by the bargaining process in establishing those benefits. Ms. Daut reported the City was advised in health care benefits issues by Willis of Oregon, Inc., an insurance broker/consultant, and AON Risk Services, an actuary/consultant. Ms. Daut provided the council with details and trend data regarding the City's Self-Insured Plan, observing that comparisons with other communities indicated Eugene was about in the middle in terms of costs. Ms. Daut identified the following issues regarding the fund: Rising Medical/RX costs--medical trend · Large claims · Rate volatility · Accuracy of rate projections · Aging workforce · Retiree continuation Ms. Daut expanded on the issue of retiree continuation, sharing two graphs with the council to demon- strate the cost impact of the retirees on the self-insured and managed care plans. The graphs indicated much higher costs for the retirees, who State law mandates must be allowed to purchase health insurance through the City. Ms. Daut reviewed the City's cost containment strategies, which included an employee committee established to advise the City on benefits issues, the Benefit Study Group; employee premium cost MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 13, 2004 Page 1 Work Session