Staff reports health-insurance premium increases, stipend levels and plans for classification/compensation study

Staff briefed the committee on benefit-cost trends and personnel studies affecting city employees.

Helga Kotter told the committee that health-insurance premiums increased across plans during 2024–25, citing specific plan increases (9% Kaiser, 5% Aporac, 12% PERS Platinum, 13% Western Specialty and a 3% dental increase). She also described the employee stipend and enrollment shifts: "The city does offer a stipend for employees enrolled in a spouse or other source of medical insurance. It is currently $2.50 per month if covering 1 or more family members or 175 per month for employee only coverage." Kotter said enrollment shifted from a lower-cost HMO to a higher-cost PPO during open enrollment and that budget assumptions use the highest-cost PERS Platinum family rate for vacant positions.

Kotter also announced the city will start a classification study to update job descriptions and will likely follow with a compensation study, saying, "we're starting a classification study because all the job or most of the job descriptions are not up to date for our current staff, and then we'll probably move into doing a compensation study that we're hoping to have finalized in the early fall." The committee asked staff to bring comparative data on benefits and compensation in Marin when staff returns in the fall.