2016.04.26 CC Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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April 26, 2016 Page 8 of 13 Nate Macziewski explained as of December 31, 2015, the firefighters' pension is 108.6% funded. The fund had assets totaling more than $3.7 million at the end of 2015. The Relief Association investments are regulated by the State Board of Investments. New Brighton was recently recognized by the Minnesota Office of the State Auditor for having one of the highest rates of return for metro area relief associations with a 10.1 % increase from investments in 2014. The City's financial exposure to supplement the fund for retirement benefits is negligible. The Relief Association is funded by State Fire Aid, ongoing investment earnings, and both voluntary & mandatory municipal contributions. State Fire Aid is budgeted at $122,000 in 2016. He requested the Council consider an amendment to the New Brighton Firefighters' Relief Association Bylaws to increase the pension benefit level for firefighters to $6,500 per year of service effective April 27, 2016. Councilmember Strub questioned how much firefighters were paid per hour. Mr. Schmidt explained firefighters were currently paid $14.52 per hour. Councilmember Strub asked if the department has had any trouble recruiting. Mr. Schmidt indicated this has not been a concern for New Brighton's fire department. Councilmember Strub discussed the value the volunteer fire department added to the community and stated he would be supporting the proposed increase. Councilmember Jacobsen understood other departments were having trouble recruiting candidates while New Brighton's department was able to maintain a response time of 3 minutes and 42 seconds. He believed this was outstanding and he was proud high level of service provided by the New Brighton's fire department. Councilmember Burg stated she took great pride in New Brighton's Public Safety Department and thanked the firefighters for their dedication to the community. She indicated she would be supporting the proposed increase. Councilmember Bauman thanked the firefighters for their time and commitment to the community. She reviewed the State Auditors report and discussed the lump such payments noting New Brighton was the 12t1i highest paid. She appreciated the efforts of the department, but believed it was not necessary to increase the retirement benefit at this time. She questioned if dually trained employees were paid both as a police officer and fire fighter when responding to emergency fire calls. Public Works Director Jacobsen reported this was the case. He stated that dually trained employees has led to reduced response times for the community. Mayor Johnson believed it was all right to pay for the best service. She understood the City was paying on the high end for its pensions, but this led to the City having highly trained public safety members and reduced response times. She was proud of the City's Public Safety Department and noted she would be supporting the proposed increase. She explained the increase would not be coming out of the City's budget, but rather would be provided through an investment fund from the Fire Relief Association. City Manager Lotter provided further comment on the successful response times in the fire department and believed that it was well worth the City's funds to dually pay its highly trained employees. He reported the City's public safety department was in the top I% based on performance and believed that if the department was paid strictly based on its performance a much higher increase could be considered. However, the department was seeking a humble increase of $200 for the coming year. He believed this was an excellent investment for the City to make in its fire department. Councilmember Jacobsen thanked the department personnel for spending their nights and weekends away from family to attend training to keep this community safe. Mayor Johnson agreed and stated the fire department had the majority of the Council's support. 4 Ayes, l Nay (Baumann Motion Carried