10-12-88 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES City Council October 12, 1988 Fire Dept. DeBace r•eported that at this time the Fir•e Depar•tment is requesting an Benefits incr•ease in benefits fr~om $1,000 to $1,200 per year• of ser~vice for• fir~emen (Cont.) with 20 years of service or• more. The Council discussed the Fire Depar~tment's five-year pr~ojection for• increased benefits with concern expressed that the percentages of unfunded liability incr~ease in the third, four~th and fifth year•s. alesener stated that he had no problem with the benefit increase requested for~ the first year•, and was agreeable to consider•ing pension benefit incr•eases in coming year•s. However, Blesener• pointed out that the City does not know how long r~evenue from the Fire Depar•tment's bingo oper~ation will be available. DeBace again stated that the Fir~e Depar•tment is only asking for• the one-year increase at this time. Scalze pointed out that once the City has made a commitment to the incr•eased benefit, that commitment will stand while charitable gambling may not be available. Blesener and Collova indicated that they were in favor of the $200 benefit incr•ease being r~equested at this time. LaValle asked if the pension benefit was comparable to what other• cities are paying. Scalze pointed out that the City has taken steps to incr•ease the City's contribution to the pension benefit and contributed $16,500 to the fund during 1988 with a commitment to incr~ease that contribution by $3,000 per• year. DeBace r•eported that ther•e are fir•e departments who have a higher pension benefit and there are departments with a lower benefit. However, departments provide different levels of service. DeBace did not believe the pension benefit being requested was out-of-line. Scalze was concerned that there was no incentive to fir•emen to stay with the department after• 20 years of service. Blesener pointed out that fire depar•tments also have to make room for younger~ people. DeBace pointed out that the pension benefit is a way to attr~act new member•s, and pointed out that getting new member~s is a pr•oblem for volunteer• fire depar•tments. DeBace r•equested that the $200 pension incr~ease be approved at this time, and reported that next year at budget time, the Fir~e Depar~tment would present another increase r•equest. DeBace r•epor•ted that any incr•ease approved by the City would go into effect immediately, which is a r•equirement of State Law. Page -10-