After years of saying the city needs to deal with the escalating cost of retiree health care benefits or be faced with fewer and fewer dollars to put into schools, police, fire and other municipal services, Ward 5 Councilman Ed Ladouceur got his moment – well, actually about a half hour in total – to argue his case. But for all his warnings that many of his colleagues agree is a problem, they didn’t vote in favor of his legislation that would have required future retirees to share in the cost of health benefits.

Ward 3 Councilman Tim Howe made the most cogent argument against the ordinance that was denied by an 8-1 vote. If passed, Howe reasoned, the ordinance would be contested in court by the unions and in the long run the city could not only lose a legal battle but have spent thousands in litigation. Just how much the city could save should retirees co-pay for health care, as Ladouceur said is the case with the state was never defined.

Ladouceur lost that battle, too.

The councilman requested a fiscal note of the measure, expecting to get a dollars and cents projection of what taxpayers could save if retirees shared in their health care costs. On the advice of the city solicitor and Council Solicitor William Walsh, City Finance Director Peder Schaefer concluded there would be no savings and on the possibility the city would lose a union challenge in court it could cost taxpayers. Noticeably absent since prior discussions over the cost of retiree benefits generated a large turnout from union members plus a core of advocates calling for change, there was no public comment when the ordinance came up in committee. The few in the audience were silent. It was as if the outcome was a foregone conclusion.

Ward 3 Councilman Jeremy Rix agreed that Schaefer had failed to give the council a fiscal note.

“It’s absurd,” he said of Schaefer’s fiscal note. “We need to know what things cost. This is not a fiscal note,” Rix said.

Nonetheless, Ladouceur painted a grim picture of where the city is headed.

He said that as of June 2020 the city had 1,639 on the city’s health plan (not counting teachers) of which 675 were active employees and 964 retirees. He said of the $20 million paid annual in health care, 41 percent of the cost paid for active employees while the remaining 50 percent pays for retirees.

Quoting actuaries who have appeared before the council, Rix said the unfunded liabilities of retiree benefits other than pension “has gone beyond the point of no return” and that the city is “on track to bankruptcy.” He added unless steps are taken “it’s going to be harder and harder to dig out.” He said the city can’t count on the federal government to bail it out by reducing the age eligibility requirements for Medicare.

From the outset, Council President Steve McAllister made it clear he was opposed to the ordinance, but would allow the measure to reach the floor for the purpose of the discussion Ladouceur was pushing for.

Recognizing he didn’t have the votes for the ordinance to pass and he wasn’t going to sway his colleagues, Ladouceur made one final pitch.

“We can sit here and do nothing…this issue must be addressed. The cost of health care leaves you a small percentage (of the budget to meet other demands). It’s not sustainable.”

On another issue concerning finances, Ladouceur (who is a private contractor) spoke of the skyrocketing cost of building materials, saying increases of 30 percent is commonplace. His point was for the council to quickly approve an amendment of the AAA Northeast lease for the Saw Tooth building in Apponaug that is being outfitted as the City Hall Annex. He cited the projected costs of either renovating or building anew the former annex that was forced to close because of a burst pipe in 2019.

“In the big picture it’s the best deal,” he said of the 15-year lease. The amendment would increase the first ten years of the lease by about $90,000 a year to cover an additional $800,000 needed to complete the offices.

The council unanimously endorsed the following mayoral appointments: Charles Benson to the Board of Public Safety; Robert Arp, Building Board of Appeals; Ashley Ianuccilli Cullion, Planning Board and Carlos Pinheiro, tree warden. The following appointments requiring Council confirmation were also unanimously approved: Stephanie Demirjian, Board of Canvassers; Anthony Dibella, sewer board of review; Ehrlich, Tourism Advisory Board Cynthia Kwoiek , Wildlife and Conservation Commission and Robert DeGregorio, Zoning Board of Review.