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City-Parish officials concerned about insurance costs after recent employee pay increases
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BATON ROUGE — Rising health insurance costs are raising questions about the financial impact on East Baton Rouge's city-parish government, coming just months after the Metro Council approved employee pay raises.
In April, the Metro Council approved pay raises for the Baton Rouge Police Department, funded through a combination of savings within BRPD's budget and recent employee health insurance reforms.
The following month, a 3.5 percent pay increase was approved for city-parish employees.
During those discussions, some council members raised concerns about whether future changes to benefits and retirement plans could offset those pay increases.
"But there are a lot of conversations happening around city-parish, around benefits. You got to know that we are looking at doing things differently, that is ultimately going to impact what you pay for your benefits and how your total compensation is structured," Councilman Dwight Hudson said during a May council meeting.
During that discussion, concerns were brought by some council members over how possible future changes to city-parish benefits and retirement could affect the raise.
Councilwoman Jennifer Racca emphasized that the council wanted to protect employees' net gains. "We're not handing you a 4% raise just to yank it back from you for something else," Racca said, adding that employees should not face premium hikes or restricted provider networks.
"Today, as we sit here, not in November, we will not see health insurance changes where your health insurance premiums will go up, or you'll have a narrow network where you can't go outside of a certain hospital to get your health care provided to you," Racca said in a May council meeting.
Currently, the city-parish covers about 80% of medical insurance costs for active employees, with workers paying the remaining 20%. However, as healthcare costs rise nationwide, questions remain about what rates will look like for both the government and its workforce heading into next year.
A special Metro Council meeting scheduled for Wednesday to establish health insurance rates for employees and retirees was cancelled. Sources tell WBRZ the mayor's office was not ready to move forward with its proposal.
WBRZ reached out to Metro Council members and the mayor's office to ask if a significant cost increase is expected and how it would be handled. Council members either declined to comment or did not respond, and the mayor's office has not yet replied.
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