PENDLETON — Pendleton Town Council conducted a special session Thursday, Aug. 30, during which it eased concerns of town employees, several of whom attended the meeting after they heard changes might be made to town health insurance retirement benefits.
Instead of announcing any changes to current policy, the council calmed fears and agreed to create a five-person committee who will make recommendations on retirement insurance benefits at a later time.
The council also assured town employees that recommended changes would not affect current employees but future hires only.
The committee is comprised of council Vice President Chad Wolfe, Councilman Chet Babb, Clerk-Treasurer Virgil Mabrey, Pendleton Police Capt. Randy Sidwell and town manager Tim McClintick.
The group has not set a date for its first meeting, but council President Bob Jones said the hope is for the committee to make a recommendation on retirement benefits before the end of the year.
Facing a 15 percent increase in insurance premiums, coupled with the fact the town’s current health insurance benefits ordinance hasn’t been updated since 1999, created a need to change some verbiage, McClintick said.
There is a current benefit allowing town employees who retire before age 65, when Medicare kicks in, to remain a part of the town’s insurance.
“It’s not really clear on how many years of service you need and that kind of thing,” McClintick said. “We’re just trying to iron it out before there is any big confusion in the future.”
The current ordinance states the employee must be at least 60 with 25 years of full-time service, or some combination of those variables totaling 85, to be eligible for the benefit.
The minimum seniority for retirement insurance coverage is 15 years of full-time service.
Town policy calls for the town to pay the same percentage of premiums as specified in each year’s salary ordinance when the retired employee has at least 25 years’ full-time service.
The committee will focus primarily on the retirement insurance section of the town’s policy, and while there will be no change for current employees, town officials must take a good look at the ordinance going forward, officials said.
“That ordinance, in my opinion, is vague and a little hard to understand,” Jones said.
“With insurance continually going up and with tax caps, you begin to wonder how do we fund these entities.”
The committee will be looking ahead, beyond the 2019 budget, so there is no immediate need for change, but as premium costs increase, insurance budgets are a concern.
With much uncertainty in the health care industry, town leaders said it’s hard to predict local costs because they’re a moving target. But leaders said they’re working to prepare and budget as best they can given the circumstances.
