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Council approves use of 2024 health-insurance surplus for sick-leave payout, employee dividend and flood reserve after amendment fails
Summary
The council approved a package to use 2024 health-insurance surplus to fund retiree sick-leave payouts, an employee dividend and a flood reimbursement reserve. An amendment to redirect the dividend to restore yard-waste service and a firefighter position failed; the original resolution passed unanimously.
The Wauwatosa Common Council approved a measure to allocate a portion of the 2024 health-insurance surplus to three purposes: establish a sick-leave payout reserve for retiree health obligations, pay a one-time employee dividend, and create a flood reimbursement reserve to respond to recent storm-related expenses.
During debate, an amendment was proposed to instead use the dividend portion (approximately $425,000) to fund a firefighter position and to restore the city’s yard-waste collection program. The council considered the amendment and then defeated it; the recorded vote on the amendment failed (the motion to amend did not receive the required support). The council then voted on the original resolution and approved it unanimously.
City HR staff explained the surplus came from the 2024 health-insurance budget, to which both employees and the city contribute; roughly 30% of premiums are employee-paid and 70% city-paid. The administration described the dividend as an incentive to reward and encourage continued prudent use of the health plan and said the remainder of the surplus would reduce the budget gap and address future retiree sick-leave liabilities.
The finance director and HR representatives told council members that the dividend was one-third of the surplus, another third would reduce the city’s budget gap and the final third would fund future sick-leave payout liability. A motion to reallocate the dividend as a short-term funding source for service restoration would have provided roughly two years of funding for the firefighter position and yard-waste program, according to staff; council members voting against the amendment said the dividend was an appropriate way to share surplus funds with employees.
After the vote, council members asked administration to continue close tracking of FEMA claims and flood-related reimbursements connected to other flood-related transfers approved that evening.
