Agenda - 09-16-2014 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 7 Retiree Health Benefits • The County Manager recommends funding $1.8 million for general fund retiree health benefits • Retiree health care costs increase is due to the aging of the retiree population and the increase in health care costs • Encourage all retirees, especially pre -65 retirees to participate in preventative care, health assessments and health screenings to reduce claims and to realize better health among retirees Commissioner Dorosin asked if the increase in health premiums will be borne by the employees or the County. Brenda Bartholomew said individual County employees will be covered entirely by County contribution, but the employees will pay 48 percent of the cost for dependents. Commissioner Dorosin referred to the proposal to increase the living wage and asked how this does not affect any County employees. Brenda Bartholomew said it does not affect permanent employees because they currently earn $12.76 per hour; however 75 temporary employees will be affected. Commissioner Dorosin asked if there are any permanent positions that are paid less than the $12.76. Brenda Bartholomew said no. Commissioner Dorosin would like to know how much it would cost to make a minimum wage of $12.76 per hour for all employees. Michael Talbert said he could get those numbers. He said many of the 75 temporary employees are seasonal. Commissioner Dorosin said it would be useful to know if it is feasible to do this. Chair Jacobs said he would like to know who these 75 temporary employees are. Brenda Bartholomew gave him the following list of employment departments and the number of temporary employees: library (20), parks and recreation (30), Aging Department (14), and Emergency Services (9). Chair Jacobs said for future reference he would like to know why these are temporary employees versus permanent employees. He would also like to see what the housing living wage was for Orange County. He would like to see the County working toward the minimum permanent wage, not just the housing and living wage. He said this was done in the past for the Sheriff's Deputies, since they were required to live in Orange County. He would like to have a conversation about this in the future. Commissioner Gordon asked if the $1.8 million for general fund retiree health benefits is for current retirees. Michael Talbert said this is to fund current benefits for current retirees for next year. Commissioner Gordon asked where the OPEB is within this budget. Michael Talbert said it would be the unassigned fund balance as of June 20, 2014. . Commissioner Gordon asked for the estimate of the unassigned fund balances. Clarence Grier said this number was estimated to be $20.17 with the three years taken out. He said if you add the three back in it would be close to $38 million. Commissioner Gordon asked if the fund balance projections by different categories could be written up for June 12 Clarence Grier said this would be available by Thursday. Commissioner Price said when the discussion happens regarding the living wage, she feels that $11.21 is a minimum wage, not a living wage. She would like to see how this really works. She said in other places minimum and living wage is $15 per hour. She would like to add this in for future discussion.