City to meet with union after health‑insurance risk pool dissolves; staff warn premiums may spike July 1

City staff notified the council of an upcoming shift in health‑insurance risk pools that will raise employee premiums and may create recruitment and retention risks.

Human resources and city management explained that REMIF, the municipal health‑insurance risk pool used for years, is dissolving and the city must move to a new pool (Sierra Prism). The result, staff said, will be materially higher employee premium contributions in some plans — “anywhere from doubling to tripling” depending on the plan — with the change effective July 1 and open enrollment in June.

“The risk pool is going away. We no longer have the option to stay with REMIF,” the city manager said, explaining that the city looked at other pools and chose the least‑cost option available but that a catch‑up in premiums is occurring. Staff recommended immediate meet‑and‑confer talks with SEIU to explore mitigation options and offered to brief council in closed session if union negotiations require confidentiality. Council members urged staff to expedite discussions and to consider one‑time support if the city wants to avoid employee departures over benefit cost changes.

Staff said they will prepare benchmarking on other agencies’ employer share arrangements and expect to bring analysis to council (potentially in closed session) in time to inform the June 17 budget hearing. No appropriation was requested at the workshop; staff framed the item as a time‑sensitive labor and compensation issue.

Ending: City staff will meet with SEIU immediately and return to council with cost estimates and options for any one‑time or recurring mitigation prior to final budget adoption.