The next Public Policy Member Meeting will December 15 at 7:30am at the Playground Theater in the Technology Village. Council retiree task force chair, Sandy Sandbulte, will present the task force’s findings and take your questions. Mark it down – you do not want to miss this meeting.

Retiree Health Care Revisited

Duluth citizens engage themselves in city happenings. Issues that arise in our community evoke strong emotions in the general populace. The smoking ban, the home for chronic alcoholics, removing the Ten Commandments monument from city property – all of these community issues compelled Duluthians to express their strong opinions.

The city retiree health insurance for life issue is no different. In fact, the public heat surrounding this issue, perhaps, surpasses that raised by the aforementioned. People in Duluth are annoyed, frustrated, growing impatient - they want to see a resolution.

Duluthians have good reasons to be concerned. The state auditor recently concluded that the city will have to come up with $278 million to balance the fund – and this amount does not include funding future increases.

Retirees are concerned that a benefit they’ve earned will simply disappear. This fear, too, is normal. After all, these retirees banked on receiving this benefit throughout the whole tenure of their careers. Who among us would work for a paycheck, only to have that check reduced before he or she could cash it?

Citizens of Duluth have reason to be concerned because they are the ones who must ultimately pay the $278 million to balance the fund – this amounts to $3,200 from every man, woman, and child in the city limits.

Exacting money from citizens-at-large is impractical, given our system of taxation. The money must come from property taxes, which amounts to approximately $72, 800 for every property holder in city limits. This figure is alarming. Obviously, collecting $72,800 from every property owner is impractical and attempting to do so would be political suicide for any politician.

Clearly, this problem is not going to just disappear. We – the retirees and the citizen property holders – must put politics aside and deal this issue head on.

We all know that setting politics aside is difficult, because everyone involved is deeply invested. Retirees, to be sure, will rightfully fight for their best interests. Politicians will grapple with doing what is right while at the same time looking toward minimizing political damage. And citizens must be concerned because it is their pocketbooks that will ultimately be affected.

But there is room for optimism. On Monday, December 12 we will have an opportunity to turn our backs on the politics of the situation and deal with the problem directly. At this meeting, the city council’s task force on the retiree benefits will present its findings and recommendations.

One can only assume that the task force will offer several solutions, ranging from buying out the retirees with a lump sum settlement, consolidating multiple health plans into some kind of efficient delivery system, or even calling for the city to significantly raise taxes while reducing expenses to address the fiscal fiasco created by inaction of years past. No matter what kind of solution may be offered, we must resolve to commit to good public debate that will lead to resolution. Ultimately, the city must move towards offering defined contribution benefits to its employees.

Let’s figure out how to resolve this issue and get it done – once and for all.