Grundy Reporter

Will County Committee of the Whole met July 13.

Here is the minutes provided by the Committee:

Chair Jim Moustisa called the meeting to order at 10:05 AM

Judy Ogalla Member Present

Laurie Summers Member Absent

Jim Moustis Chair Present

Cory Singer Member Absent

Donald A. Moran Member Absent

Beth Rice Member Present

Kenneth E. Harris Member Present

Jacqueline Traynere Member Absent

Darren Bennefield Member Absent

Gretchen Fritz Member Present

Debbie Militello Member Present

Donald Gould Member Present

Steve Balich Member Present

Mike Fricilone Member Present

Herbert Brooks Jr. Member Present

Denise E. Winfrey Member Present

Annette Parker Member Present

Lauren Staley-Ferry Member Present

Gloria Dollinger Member Present

Tyler Marcum Member Present

Suzanne Hart Member Present

Charles E. Maher Member Present

Ray Tuminello Member Present

Tom Weigel Member Present

Mark Ferry Member Present

Tim Kraulidis Member Present

Also Present: R. Freitag, M. Johannsen and B. Adams.

Present from State's Attorney's Office: M. Tatroe and K. Meyers.

I. Pledge Of Allegiance To The Flag

Mr. Maher led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.

II. Approval Of Minutes

III. Old Business

IV. New Business

1. Discussion Re: County Benefits Plan

(Bruce Tidwell)

Mr. Moustis stated the Executive Committee heard a presentation from AON regarding health insurance going forward. Our challenge is keeping a sustainable program. This will require changes over time, including different types of participation by employees. AON made some recommendations to the Executive Committee, some new to Will County, such as HSA. Mr. Tidwell will go over the plans recommended by AON. These have been taken to the negotiating table.

Mr. Tidwell introduced Mr. Mark Bennett and Mr. Mike Kuczwara from Laner Muchin.

Mr. Bennett recapped the services Laner Muchin provides to the County. The AFSCME contract expired on November 30, 2016. We started negotiations before the contract expired and have had seven sessions. An overview of how AFSCME bargaining works was given. We have to negotiate in good faith, which means we have to sit down at reasonable times and with a good faith effort to reach an agreement. Typically, in bargaining you start with the non-economic issues, because those are often easier to resolve and provide an opportunity to develop a good working relationship before the harder economic issues begin. Since the last contract finished at the end of 2013, there are not many language changes either side brought to the table. Most of the language issues were resolved in the last round of negotiations. AFSCME made their proposal first and it included; 5% per year in wage increases for a four year contract, insurance status quo with respect to the benefit, but reduce their monthly contributions by 2%. The employees are in the aggravate paying 10% of the premiums, they proposed to reduce that to 8%. They proposed an extra week of vacation, additional personal days and few other economic enhancements. We presented our initial economic proposal on June 14. It included no wage increases for the four year term and we gave them our initial health insurance proposal. Our proposal was status quo for all other economic issues. The focus today is to review our initial health insurance proposal. Health insurance is a very high cost item in the county's budget and we are looking for ways to control the costs. The last round of negotiations were difficult because of what the county was successful in doing. Prior to the last round of negotiations, the employees paid a percentage of their salary toward health insurance rather than a percentage of the premium. As salaries went up less than health insurance costs the employees were paying less toward the health insurance. At that time employees were paying approximately 5% of the cost of the premium; our goal was to switch it from percentage of salary to a percentage of premium. We also instituted a wellness program, which we thought would help control how much the health insurance costs rise. This round of negotiations we are still looking for employees to pay a percentage of their premium contributions, we are looking to increase that, but we are proposing adding a third health insurance plan to the mix. Currently employees have the option of PPO or HMO; we are looking at adding an HSA.

Mr. Moustis stated lower paid employees pay less than higher paid employees. As an average in dollars how much do our employees pay for insurance?

Mr. Tidwell stated it goes by four salary bands. Examples of the bands and the amount paid was reviewed. The lower paid employees will pay less than 10%, mid- paid employees pay 10% and higher paid employees pay 16% to 17%. It is spread to get the 10% aggregate.

A discussion took place regarding the actual dollar amount paid by each salary band.

Mr. Moustis stated this is not the county's money, it is the taxpayers paying for this. When we talk about percentages it can sound like a lot; but when you are paying $35 per month for individual coverage and $96 per month for family, that is less than any collar county in Illinois, possibly less than any county in Illinois. I think our employees have been treated fairly when it comes to their contribution to health insurance and I doubt the taxpayers paying for this have the same deal.

Mr. Tidwell stated we did custom benchmarking and we are currently much lower than the peer counties.

A discussion took place regarding the wellness program and the number of employees participating to make the program successful.

Mr. Tidwell indicated the county's participation in the wellness program is over 90%. Most programs start at 40% and after the plan becomes established most participation rates rise to around 75%. The wellness program does not reduce the health insurance costs, but it to contain them. We have many success stories of people who caught health issues early and it has saved employees' lives. Our plan was custom designed. AON developed the plan and are using it as a model for their other clients because we have been so successful.

Mr. Bennett reviewed the attached PowerPoint presentation.

County Board Members were given an opportunity to ask questions for clarification during the review.

Discussion took place regarding the HSA being free of state and federal taxes, portable to a new employer and owned by the employee for future use.

Mr. Tidwell stated the biggest difference between an HSA is prescription drugs are part of the deductible, they are not a co-pay. Prescription drugs are like any other medical expense, you pay the full cost until you meet your deductible.

Mrs. Ogalla asked if children of employees attending college out of state are covered.

Mr. Tidwell responded yes, children of our employees are covered. The Affordable Care Act exchanges are administered through the state and in that case children would not be covered.

Mr. Tuminello asked how do these changes affect employees in the lower and upper brackets? Will everyone see a savings by switching to the HSA?

Mr. Bennett answered the employees in the lower salary bands going from the PPO to the HSA would see a slight increase in their monthly premiums. Examples of the changes were given based on page 9 of the PowerPoint.

Mr. Tuminello asked doesn't this defy our goal of lower paid employees paying less and higher paid employees paying more?

Mr. Moustis clarified it was not the philosophy of the Board; it was agreed to in negotiations. If you talk to employees paid $55,000 or more, they think it is unfair to them. The principal is that the lower paid employees still pay a lot less than the higher paid employees. When it comes to health insurance, it is not that we think the costs will not go up; but it is to slow the growth of costs in a responsible way, while still giving our employees a high level of benefits. That has always been our goal. We are trying to have a sustainable program that everyone benefits from. There is not an unlimited amount of money. There is only so much money the taxpayers can afford. When I started the employees paid a percentage of the premium and there was no income bands. Everyone paid the same. There is a sensitivity to the lower paid workers. In the real world employees pay the same regardless of what they make. We created a unique situation here. It is unique among other counties. No other county that I am aware of does the salary band. The argument of the higher paid employees is that everyone gets the same benefit, therefore everyone should pay the same. We are on a tough road when we try to redistribute contributions into a plan everyone gets the same benefit from.

Mr. Bennett stated under the HSA the employee making less than $31,000 will pay $200 less per month than the employee making over $77,000. There is still a big difference between the cost of insurance.

Mr. Tidwell stated the numbers shown are illustrative and many assumptions were made to develop the plan. One assumption is during the first year 5% of the population will move into the HSA. I believe the higher paid employees will move to the HSA. We want to keep the aggregate cost at 10%, those at the higher end will pay 13.4% of the cost of the plan; while the lowest paid will only pay 5% of the cost of the plan.

Mr. Fricilone stated you are looking at HSA possible versus last year's PPO. You have to look at all the aggregate. Part of the negotiations should include the package. I would like to see somewhere in our negotiations each person is shown the entire package they are receiving. A person being paid $33,000; is receiving a $100,000 package. They are getting the same insurance as the higher paid employees. I think we need to push that to the employees so they see they are getting a good deal, including all the benefits.

Mr. Moustis stated benefits can make up 80% to 90% of the salary.

Mrs. Hart suggested having enrollment specialists work with employees.

Mr. Tidwell stated we are working with AON's communication team. We are putting together a program and will have specialists reach out and set up meetings. We will have calculators to show each employee their salary, premiums and last years' insurance out of pocket.

Mr. Moustis stated this is a collaborative effort. Mr. Tidwell works under the executive branch of government. When we ask for recommendations, we give the executive branch guidelines; we are looking to contain the growth of the costs as much as we can and to make it a sustainable program for everyone. We have consultants and labor attorneys and we talk about how to meet the goals of a sustainable program. They come back with recommendations. This was the recommendation from the executive branch to the Executive Committee, which acts as the Insurance and Personnel Committee.

Mr. Tidwell stated the County is self-insured plan; our experts have actuaries that run our actual experience through the models. That is how we come up with the numbers.

Committee of the Whole PowerPoint Presentation July 13, 2017 (Handout)

2. Discussion Re: Tax Rate Freeze

(Mike Fricilone) Mr. Fricilone stated at the last meeting we talked about freezing the county's tax rate. Today I have better news; based on the preliminary numbers, we will be able to drop the tax rate. It currently looks like 1.5% less than last year. That comes from all the budget work that has been done and the assessed valuation of property. Hopefully, 1.5% will be the minimum we can drop the rate. Better than a freeze, we are going down.

Mr. Brooks stated last Thursday was the first time I heard about this. There was a few things I wanted to point out regarding a tax freeze; nobody wants an increase. There are reforms in the state's budget. Senator Sue Resin sent out a report and it talks about what is contained in the budget and how it will affect the Will County residents. With the new revenue we will get road construction back to work. We were able to stop Standard and Poor’s from putting our bonds to junk status. If you look at the budget, there are things I feel will be beneficial to Will County.

Mr. Fricilone stated there is talk of a 2% surcharge on sales tax. While the LD funds are safe, it is not 100% yet and that could affect the county. If our tax rate goes down, our residents will potentially save dollars.

V. Other New Business

VI. Public Comment

VII. Executive Session

1. Motion to go into Executive Session for Discussion of Labor Negotiations and Pending Litigation at 11:07 am

Result: Approved [Unanimous] Mover: Herbert Brooks Jr., Member Seconder: Charles E. Maher, Member Ayes: Ogalla, Rice, Harris, Fritz, Militello, Gould, Balich, Fricilone, Brooks Jr.,

Winfrey, Parker, Staley-Ferry, Dollinger, Marcum, Hart, Maher, Tuminello, Weigel, Ferry, Kraulidis Absent: Summers, Singer, Moran, Traynere, Bennefield

2. Motion to Come Out of Executive Session at 12:15 PM

Result: Approved [Unanimous] Mover: Charles E. Maher, Member Seconder: Donald Gould, Member Ayes: Ogalla, Rice, Harris, Fritz, Militello, Gould, Balich, Fricilone, Brooks Jr.,

Winfrey, Parker, Staley-Ferry, Dollinger, Marcum, Hart, Maher, Tuminello, Weigel, Ferry, Kraulidis Absent: Summers, Singer, Moran, Traynere, Bennefield

3. Motion to Concur with State's Attorney's Recommendation

Result: Approved [Unanimous] Mover: Herbert Brooks Jr., Member Seconder: Mike Fricilone, Member Ayes: Ogalla, Rice, Harris, Fritz, Militello, Gould, Balich, Fricilone, Brooks Jr.,

Winfrey, Parker, Staley-Ferry, Dollinger, Marcum, Hart, Maher, Tuminello, Weigel, Ferry, Kraulidis Absent: Summers, Singer, Moran, Traynere, Bennefield

VIII. Adjourn

Motion to Adjourn at 12:16 PM

Result: Approved [Unanimous] Mover: Tyler Marcum, Member Seconder: Donald Gould, Member AYES: Ogalla, Rice, Harris, Fritz, Militello, Gould, Balich, Fricilone, Brooks Jr., Winfrey, Parker, Staley-Ferry, Dollinger, Marcum, Hart, Maher, Tuminello, Weigel, Ferry, Kraulidis ABSENT: Summers, Singer, Moran, Traynere, Bennefield

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