Fellow members,

The budget was passed by city council last night by a vote of 7-1. Over the past few days we have been discussing with council members a compromise for the range adjustment not being in the budget. We came to a conclusion that what would be best for our members but also that the city could afford would be not to raise our health insurance costs. The budget that the city manager proposed included an increase in our health insurance premiums by 7%, our deductibles by 60%, and our co-insurance 50%. Under the approved budget our health insurance costs will not be raised. This is another victory for our union. Many of our members will save $250-$1,000 a year depending on your health insurance plan. We would have preferred a range adjustment increase but due to the number of city employees this cost would have been too high. Many council members were reluctant to dip further into the reserves. Also, the savings on our health benefits are not taxed so what we save we keep and don’t lose any of it to taxes.

I want to thank every member who attended the council meeting on June 2. Your presence made the difference and we should all be proud of what we can accomplish when we all stand together. I always like to show the benefits of being a member of our union. Including the educational incentive we will receive this year and the savings on our health insurance benefits most of our members will receive between $1000 and $2500 additional this year for an investment of $240 in union dues. I don’t know of any better investment of your money.

Thanks for all your support,

Rick Armstrong