2011-0906 Special City Commission Meeting

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Summary Minutes: Special City Commission Meeting September 6,2011 First Budget Hearing Sunny Isles Beach, Florida which would be approximately $9,000 for the year, and that would be in the health insurance line. Now their spouse has family coverage through their employment and so they would rather take the cash and we show a $4,000 reduction for those employees and it is all in that line. Vice Mayor Thaler said to go to page 57, your health insurance against your salary is 20%, then on page 63, you have $144,460 against $686,760. Ms. Shah said on page 57, overall health, dental and vision insurance went down $6,000 which is 10%, but all that takes is 1 ~ up to go from family coverage to opt out. Mayor Edelcup said on page 57 you have total salaries of$257,720 and $54,140 for health insurance, but then you go to page 63 and you got 2~ times salary $686,760 and only $144,460 in health insurance, the relationship of salary to health is questionable. Ms. Shah said the health insurance is not a percentage of salary, it is actually a fixed amount based on the coverage that they are requesting, and so if an employee is asking for family coverage they can make $20,000 a year but we are paying $9,000 in insurance for them vs. a $60,000 employee getting $9,000 in coverage. Commissioner Scholl said he had asked this question in the budget workshop, and so what Ms. Shah is saying is that it is not proportionate based on who opts in and who opts out, and it can vary widely amongst the Departments because some Departments may have more spouses that have coverage that basically causes somebody to opt out and take the money, and other Departments they had to pay but we reallocated all of this because it was grossly unfair, two years ago we did this. The single coverage folks were massively subsidizing the family coverage folks and we were trying to create some equilibrium. Mayor Edelcup said if they have opted out of the insurance and they are taking the extra cash, it is still appearing on the budget as health insurance, and Ms. Shah said yes because that is where it comes from. Vice Mayor Thaler said we went up 1/3 in water for Public Works, is that all Heritage Park, and Commissioner Scholl said no, that is part of the recapture, the meters were not being read. Assistant City Manager Shah said this is for Margolis Park, Heritage Park, Intracoastal Park, and Bella Vista Bay Park because they are coming on line throughout the year. Commissioner Scholl moved and Commissioner Aelion seconded a motion to approve the proposed ordinance on first reading, with the recommended changes which will be presented in the second reading. The motion was approved by a roll call vote of 5-0 in favor. Second reading, public hearing will be held on Tuesday, September 20,2011, at 6:00 p.m. Vote: Commissioner Aelion Commissioner Gatto Commissioner Scholl Vice Mayor Thaler Mayor Ede1cup yes yes m m yes Mayor Edelcup asked about maintenance landscaping and what we are doing about it in the median and on Collins Avenue. City Manager Cohen said the general appearance of the median is not as good as it was a year or two ago. In large part that is due to the Crown of Thorns which were placed there to add more color as opposed to the hedges which were uniform in color but are more consistent in appearance. The reasons for the Crown of Thorns having an inconsistent look is perhaps due to watering/irrigation issues, and replacing dead 10