Minutes - 2005/01/24 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mounds View City Council January 24, 2005 Regular Meeting Page 14 • Finance Director Hanson stated he had received a request from one of the people who had retired before this last option was available, asking that past retirees be allowed to join the program also. He stated that he had contacted ICM, who had stated that it would be allowed within certain provisions. One is that the money would have to be considered an employer contribution rather than an employee contribution, and the City would have to require all employees with remaining balances in their accounts to contribute. Finance Director Hanson stated that he wanted to check with the Council to see if they were open to this idea prior to contacting the other two retirees to see if they were interested. He stated he would only recommend doing this if all of the potential employees were in favor. He suspects that all three will probably be in favor given the tax advantages. He stated that the cost to the City would be fairly minor. Mayor Marty asked that if you consider the Finance Department's time spent keeping these people quasi on the payroll, wouldn't that help their department? Finance Director Hanson stated that there would be some savings in terms of streamlining administratively, and it would be hard to quantify that in terms of dollars and offset that against the interest income that would be lost. Mayor Marty stated he wouldn't want to impose this on anyone after they had retired. • Council Member Sti ne stated that when eo le retire the retire under certain conditions g Y p p ~ Y which shouldn't be changed later. Council Member Flaherty stated that he felt they should be given the option of what they wanted to do, Mayor Marty asked what Finance Director Hanson's recommendation would be. Finance Director Hanson stated that he saw this as being of minimal cost to the City in terms of lost interest, and he felt this clears up an issue in terms of differences of opinion of whether or not the continued participation in the Employees Group Health Plan is a taxable event, and he maintains that it is, and he feels he is on pretty sold ground on that. Council Member Gunn asked if all others who retire in the future would have this option. Finance Director Hanson stated that they can make their individual choice. He stated that the ICM plan with the tax benefits is so beneficial to the employees, he would be surprised if anybody chose the old way from this point forward. Mayor Marty stated that he would recommend contacting these three employees, and if they • are all in agreement, to bring them back to the Council.