City of Lexington City Council met Nov. 26.
Here is the minutes provided by the council:
The regular meeting of the Lexington City Council was called to order at 7:00 P. M. by Mayor Spencer Johansen in the City Council Chambers at City Hall.
Mayor Johansen led the council in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Roll call was taken to find the following physically present: Mayor Johansen, Alderman Schreiber, Alderman Stover, Alderwoman Wilson, Alderman Franklin, Alderman Richard and Alderman Colclasure, Members of the staff and public present were: Don Cavallini and Chief Belvery.
It was moved by Alderwoman Wilson and seconded by Alderman Franklin to approve the minutes of the November 12, 2018 regular City Council meeting. Motion carried unanimously.
It was moved by Alderman Stover and seconded by Alderwoman Wilson to approve the Treasurer’s Report in the amount of $33,523.59. Motion carried unanimously.
Public Input: None Old Business:
Discussion Health Insurance Update
Alderman Stover started the discussion by stating that the deadline for the insurance was not December 1st so the discussion from last meeting was not going to pertain to this year and if we were thinking about changing the plan the insurance company needed to be notified in October. The plan that was decided on at the last meeting was not approved by the employees and they would be willing to pay more for a better plan. Alderman Stover did some more investigating and came up with a better plan that seems to better satisfy the employees although it is more expensive.
That change cannot be made December 1, we can do it January 1, and we do not have the option of rolling it till our year end of April 1, 2019. It would be great if they would roll it to our year end but they will not do that.
December 1 we will roll to the new plan which is an increase of $624.00 per month. Our intention is to leave this $624 stay at the 50% share of the family and spouse, the way we had it, for the one month. Then the Silver Plan, with new dental plan that the employees want, that’s where we are going to go January 1, 2019. Our intentions would be to offer the Silver Plan, the new accident and dental and hopefully a health reimbursement account where they can deduct from their payroll toward medical expenses pre-tax.
As we looked at trying to keep this reasonable for the employee you can see what our increased cost is. This will probably be in lieu of raises but this is something that we can discuss at budget time but this is a rather significant increase. We cannot have any increase over last year and expect the employees to absorb it all. Alderman Stover’s thought was to share 50/50 in the increase and at that rate we do a little something on raises. That plan will get them into a co-pay and a prescription card which was the two biggest points for them and they have been without that which hasn’t mattered until now because of the aggregate savings that we have been using.
There was some discussion following about letting the employees pick their own plan and the employer pay for the employees insurance. There was some disagreement that this was the way to go.
Alderman Stover knows that a lot of companies have pulled way back due to expenses but does not think that the City is in a position where we need to do that. He thinks paying 100% of the employee is something we can be comfortable with. Doing that alone will keep us, if rates continue to rise, he feels that that is a good share rate, increase on the family and spouse, share rate on the employee. The way this worked out we haven’t spent any more money, we just redirected it until we looked at the employee’s cost and how much we wanted to absorb. We can leave it as it is and give raises. It is money going to the employee. They are better off having it here because it stays here pre-tax. Alderman Stover did not want to offer more than one plan. Several of the employees are going to drop off of this plan altogether because they think they can do better somewhere else. A lot of that has to do with our size, history and premium that they think they can get a better premium somewhere else.
Alderman Stover stated that we do want to take care of the employees and the employees cannot go out and buy their own insurance for this price. It was noted that this is a cafeteria plan meaning that if an employee does not take the insurance he must be offered the same premium dollars in cash payable in his salary. The proposal going forward will be that you get a certain amount towards your health insurance and no family or spouse coverage.
There followed a discussion as to whether or not the employees were over or under paid and whether the insurance premium which the City was paying for was too high.
Alderman Stover demonstrated that we cut out the spouse and family plan and saved $841 over last year. The new plan does cost the City more but Alderman Stover’s suggestion is that we take that savings from the family and spouse and give that back. We are committed that we are going to spend what we spent last year. We are not going to hold back on them anymore than the program called for. The increase is 100%. The new program saved us $841 per month. Alderman Stover suggests we move that back over to salaries. The dollars we spent last year are the dollars we are spending this year. The 50% spouse and family is where the City actually commits to increase our expense on insurance year over year from last year.
There was more discussion about the plan and how employees picked this plan over the other. The cost of the plan and what happens in coming years if premiums continue to rise.
January 1, 2019 the City will no longer pay insurance on family and spouse but will still pay 100% of the employee health insurance.
Alderman Stover reminded the Council that we need to be good to our employees and we need to be responsible for the tax payers. What we have is good insurance, we have found a way to pull some of that money back in, and share the cost with the employees. We can afford to pay the insurance or thru raises put some money back out. We have not been able to provide raises because of the huge increases in the insurance premiums. This will make our budgeting process easier because we have actually stated what we have committed to do. It is pretty simple for anyone coming on board. We have capped all of our costs for everyone but the employee going forward.
There was some discussion as to the pros and cons of the aggregate fund.
Alderwoman Wilson voiced her opinion that she would prefer to pay the employee’s insurance 100% and offer a small raise, if at all possible, as they have not had one for so long. Alderman Stover explained that the 50% that we are paying for the spouse and family plan now we are moving that dollar amount over to salaries.
There was more conversation about raising salaries and paying the employee’s for their insurance for the spouse and family coverage. Whether this was considered a raise or a return of dollars spent.
Mayor Johansen reminded the Council that normally pay raises were not discussed until the new budget was discussed in April.
Alderman Stover stated that this year we are essentially buying ourselves out of the family and spouse commitment to provide insurance for them. The employee will have the benefit of having spouse and family that they have to pay for. We have committed those dollars in the past it is just getting us out of that commitment.
It was suggested that next year the City should look at a Municipality Insurance to see if we could get a better rate with better coverage. Alderman Richard did state that we did have this years ago and that this policy was better than what was had back then. That was the reason they no longer had that insurance.
This is a much cleaner system and next year should go a lot smoother. It should also make the budget process a lot easier as well.
Discussion/Vote Ordinance 2018-7 Property Tax Levy
Alderman Stover stated the discussion that shows the levy for this year at $178,500. The City has a rate history of 5.4%-5.7%, so the average fell in at 5.6%. He waited longer in October to get more solid EAV than in the past and doesn’t expect it to fluctuate. I used the 5.555% EAV and no more than 5.6% he feels should be a good target. EAV has increased substantially. Alderman Stover’s thoughts are the EAV keeps growing up we need to be conscience of this and follow every year because right now we have a lot of money going different places because of the TIF. When that ends this will be your revenue. He doesn’t think we want to be in a situation where we live off the TIF and then it goes away and we say “we don’t have enough money,” Alderman Stover thinks we should keep the rate approximately where it is at. He did look up the rates for a lot of the surrounding towns, it is highly variable, but we are smack dab in the middle of everyone. Our portion of the entire tax rate is minimal. We dropped it as much as we have ever dropped it last year. We need to be responsible and take the increase on the EAV. We have more expenses every year.
Motion was made by Alderman Stover and seconded by Alderman Richard to approve Ordinance 2018-7 Annual Appropriation Ordinance for fiscal year ending April 30, 2019. Motion carried unanimously.
Discussion/Vote Ordinance 2018-8 tax Abatement for Bonds
Alderman Stover stated that this was an annual opportunity to levy specifically to pay the interest on the bonds. Financially we are in good shape that we do not need a special levy for the bonds to approve the payment. The City has never paid anything on those bonds and he recommends that we continue that practice
Motion was made by Alderman Stover and seconded by Alderwoman Wilson to approve Ordinance 2018-8 Abating the tax hereto levied for the year 2018 to pay the principal of and interest on general obligation bonds (alternate revenue source), series 2013, of the City of Lexington, Illinois. Motion carried unanimously.
New Business:
Discussion/Vote Sending Chief Belvery to Las Vegas to the Shot Show Police Training
Alderman Richard started this discussion saying Chief Belvery would like to attend this training. Alderman Richard thought it was a good idea as there is several training classes in one area and Chief Belvery can choose what he would like to attend. This is above and beyond the mandated state training that he is required to take. If the City will pay for the registration fee and the hotel Chief Belvery will pay for the air fare. The training is for four days and the hotel at the training site is very expensive but there are other hotels close by that are less expensive.
The question was asked if we will have coverage while he was away. The City has one officer in the academy and one just back. Chief Belvery feels he can have the days covered that he will be gone.
The training covers tactical training with tactical gear, weapons and active shooter training, which is a major concern for law enforcement. There are other area police going.
It was decided to set a limit for hotel and a per diem for food of $1000. Since there was no money in the training budget due to the fact that officers were sent to the Police Academy that were not accounted for in this year’s budget, for this expense Alderman Richard felt the money would be found to cover this expense as he would really like for Chief Belvery to go.
Motion was made by Alderman Richard and seconded by Alderman Colclasure to approve sending Chief Belvery to the Las Vegas Shot Show Police Training with the condition that he pays for his air fare and the City pays up to $1000 for hotel and meals. Motion carried with 5 yes and 1 no.
Committee Reports:
Mayors Report: Christmas on the Prairie is Saturday
and he encourages everyone to come up for the tree lighting ceremony at 5:00 P.M.
Mayor Johansen has not heard back from Fred. He was to have the contracts signed last week and he has not seen it. He is to have something for Mayor Johansen by the end of today or tomorrow. He did not open on Saturday. Tom Shields has not heard anything so we are meeting tomorrow to discuss this. Fred says his attorney has the contract and has had it for quite a while. Mayor Johansen would feel better if the contract was signed and we were getting some of our money back. He has not been issued a liquor license. He thinks he will be open sometime in December.
Mayor Johansen has heard nothing from Casey’s. The contract is still at the attorneys.
Mayor Johansen has been approached by someone interested in purchasing Christo’s. Met with them concerning some TIF money. There is still a lot of work to do on that yet. Would be the same business as Christo’s, restaurant, wine, etc.
The new bed and breakfast in town has asked about the hotel tax. It was open on November 15th for Ladies Night Out for anyone who wanted to see it.
There was some discussion about the new businesses in town and how well they were doing.
The person interested in purchasing the Water Plant needed hip replacement. Regardless of what we do with the Water Plant, we need to pump the sludge out of those tanks that are inside the building and the estimated cost is $11,000. We will need to put that into next year’s budget. Even if we decide to tear that down we are obligated to take that stuff out of there. The EPA would not approve us doing it ourselves.
The High School Chorus will be leading the singing for Christmas on the Prairie.
Police: None
Building/Insurance None
Finance/TIF: None
Water/Sewer/Sanitation: None
Street/Alley: None
There being no further business, motion was made by Alderman Franklin to adjourn at 8:09 P.M. Motion carried by unanimous voice vote.
https://www.lexingtonillinois.org/images/Nov2618.pdf
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