Packets for the May 13th City Council meeting have been posted on-line. Of great interest to me are the large checks written monthly for health insurance premiums and retirement contributions.
For the first time (that I ever remember seeing) these now total OVER $250,000 PER MONTH – a run-rate of $3 MILLION per year.
Check #150608 to Scott & White – $118,245.76
Check #150616 to Texas Municipal Retirement System – $141,536.69
For a grand total of $259,782.45 for the month of April 2019….an annual run-rate of $3,117,389.40 or over $28,000 per employee (assuming 110 employees)
Do YOU, fellow tax slave, get to put away over $2,300 per MONTH for your retirement and health insurance? I highly doubt it.
So how fast has this expense item exploded over the last two administrations? I have that data too. EXACTLY four years ago, the numbers were as follows (page 65):
May 2015: Scott and White $86,307.20
May 2015: Texas Municipal Retirement System $78,120.81
For a grand total of $164,428.01 – a difference of $95,354.44 per MONTH. This represents an INCREASE of 58% in just four short years – or 14.5% increase PER YEAR!!
Now, the dummies in charge might not know about the Rule of 72, but I learned it in grade school. That rate of increase implies a DOUBLING of benefits every 5 years or so (5.12 to be precise). To say that is unsustainable is a huge understatement.
Will any “leaders” have the balls to cut spending? Or will it be more of the same?