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Staff asks council to keep employee health benefits unchanged while budgeting for FY 26-27
Summary
Staff asked the council to motion and vote to maintain existing group health benefits for now while staff models the FY 26-27 budget and explores Medicare/HSA policy options; councilmembers discussed whether changes would require MMIA notification or a personnel policy update.
A staff member asked the council to formally keep employee group health benefits unchanged for the time being while staff builds a FY 26-27 budget model to test costs.
"What I'd like to do is have you motion and vote to keep our benefits the same as they have been, in previous years," the staff member said, adding that she had not finished work to determine the exact cost and preferred to account for a potential benefit line in next year’s budget model rather than change coverage now.
Councilmembers discussed how to treat employees who become eligible for Medicare. One member suggested the town could choose to remove such employees from town coverage and make a contribution to an HSA; staff cautioned that changes of that kind may be internal personnel policy matters rather than items covered by the group health election and said they would check with MMIA and consider whether a personnel-policy amendment or a resolution would be the appropriate vehicle.
No formal motion or recorded vote to change benefits appears in the provided segments. Staff said they would include a modeled cost in the 26-27 budget and return with more detail before implementing policy changes.
Next steps: staff will complete the budget modeling for FY 26-27 and return with a recommendation; if policy changes are needed, staff will clarify whether MMIA must be notified and whether changes require a personnel policy update or a formal resolution.
