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Council to consider adopting resolution making health and limited benefits available to mayor and council; retirement participation flagged for longer review
Summary
City staff presented a draft resolution to make employee benefits available to the mayor and council, including health coverage and employee assistance; staff recommended treating council as part‑time term employees for benefit design and cautioned that adding retirement participation would require a separate, year‑long process and coordination
City staff asked the Falls Church City Council on Tuesday to place a resolution on a future agenda that would formally authorize employee benefits for the mayor and council, including optional health coverage, flexible spending accounts and the employee assistance program (EAP). The council discussed cost, eligibility and whether retirement program participation should be included.
Why it matters: City law allows councils to adopt a resolution making employee benefits available to elected officials. Staff presented options and estimated maximum costs if all seven elected officials elected family‑level coverage and all available benefits. For a part‑time, term‑employee benefit package staff used as a comparative benchmark, the projected maximum annual cost to the city was approximately $149,290; the projected maximum cost under a full‑time term package was about $166,000.
Staff presentation: Sharon Gibson, the city’s human resources director, said council can pick which employee benefits to extend. She said staff believe the work of a council member is most comparable to a part‑time term employee for benefits purposes and noted that term employees are not eligible for the city’s retirement programs. Gibson and Melissa Ryman, deputy director of finance (participating electronically), outlined available benefits including health insurance, flexible spending accounts, life and disability coverage, employee assistance programs and defined‑benefit or defined‑contribution retirement options.
Retirement programs: Staff recommended caution on including retirement participation. Gibson said adding council members to retirement plans would require amendments to the retirement plan documents and coordination with the retirement board and would likely take roughly a year to complete; staff therefore recommended addressing retirement separately if council wants to pursue that option.
Council reaction: Several council members said they support offering health insurance and the employee assistance program because those benefits lower barriers to public service and help make the council more accessible to people with diverse backgrounds and income. Councilmember Laura (surname provided in meeting) said she did not plan to take advantage of the benefits but supported making them available to others who might need them. Several members noted that salary and benefit changes are separate questions and that the council will consider public comment when the formal resolution and salary ordinance reach the public hearing stage.
Next steps: Staff said the benefit resolution has no binding deadline but recommended placing the measure on the docket to coincide with council salary discussions; the salary ordinance already had a scheduled public hearing. Staff will return a drafted resolution that specifies which benefits are included and the fiscal impacts to the city budget for FY26, if council wants to proceed.
