New long term disability will be sought for city employees from Great West Life as part of the revamping of the city’s pension plan under the shared risk model.
Common Council has agreed the city will pay 100 per cent of the coverage for two years which Councillor Donnie Snook says he can’t accept, calling it ridiculous. He says a 50/50 split would have been acceptable for him to support.
Finance Commissioner Greg Yeomans says there are 64 city employees on long term disability, at the moment, whose status will not change until they reach the age of 65 and the city will pick up that cost as well which is estimated at 1.9 million dollars.
Councillor Susan Fullerton voted against, saying there was too much of a rush and that kind of haste usually costs you more money in the end. She argues there are still too many unanswered questions.
Councillor Bill Farren voted in favour although he didn’t necessarily disagree with Snook. Farren says city taxpayers will have to swallow full cost of long term disability for 24 months in order to get the pension issue out of the way once and for all.
Fellow west side Councillor Greg Norton voted in favour, saying the alternative would have cost much more money.
