1999-02-08 Regular Meeting, Public Hearing and Special Called Workshop Minutes of City Council

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. e be a tremendous benefit to the spouse, especially if school age children were involved. I know I certainly would be more comfortable knowing my wife would be better able to put the kids through college. In summary, if the City of La Porte adopts the 20 year retirement option, the costs to the City would increase in the first couple of years and then decrease in later years. The cost increase for the first couple of years would be about $58,500 per year (the impact on Fiscal Year 1998-99 would be about $34,125). After that time, a new actuarial would be prepared and it is expected the costs for the 20 year option will be lower. A summary of years of service for current employees with more than 15 years of service with the City of La Porte is: Years of Service Number of Employees 11 to 15 16 to 20 21 to 25 More than 25 58 46 16 7 As you can see, there are currently 7 employees with 25 or more years of service who are eligible for retirement at this time. If the attached ordinance is approved, there would be an additional 16 employees who would be eligible at this time. For the employees in the 11 to 20 year range, which represents about 1/3 of our work force, we believe this benefit would help us to retain these career minded individuals. If any of them were to consider leaving the City for a job on the outside, by making them that much closer to retirement, it might sway them to stay with us longer. In addition to these numbers, there are employees with eligible service at other Cities. Because of the complexity of the various options, these have to be reviewed on a case by case basis to determine the impact. Finally, for those employees who have prior service credit that has been moved to the City of Le Porte, that prior service credit counts as La Porte time. In conclusion, staff recommends City Council adopt the 20 year retirement provision offered by the Texas Municipal Retirement System. The adoption of the 20 year option will increase expenses for the first couple of years and then should reduce them in later years. While impossible to prove or disprove, logically, the adoption of the 20 year option saves the City money over the long term. The adoption of the 20 year option will not force anyone to retire but rather give the employee the opportunity to retire earlier, if they so desire. ACTION REQUIRED BY COUNCIL: Approve or deny the adoption of an Ordinance authorizing the 20 year Retirement Option offered by the Texas Municipa' Retirement System. FUND Operatino ACCT NUM: Various FUNDS AVAILABLE: Yes APPROVED FOR CITY COUNCIL AGENDA G<~ T. ~ ROBERT T. HERRERA, CITY MANAGER ~. L\ - q Cf DATE