Other business
Flowery Branch City Council also conducted the following other business:
— Voted to allow Fifth Row Center to lease city-owned space on Main Street at $1 per month through at least the end of its one-year contract. The original contract called for the community theater group to pay $1 per month for six months and then $250 per month for six months. The group has made one $250 payment.
— Voted to approve on first reading changes to its alcoholic beverage law allowing businesses to acquire a license to sell off premises, such as at catered events. Another change would allow for beer and wine tastings.
Jeff Gill
Flowery Branch is looking at nearly a 25 percent hike in employee health insurance costs if it keeps its current plan.
The city now pays $179,764 to cover employees but would see that amount rise to $224,705, City Manager Bill Andrew told the city council Thursday night.
One option is to consider a HMO plan that would cost the city $190,044. The city now has a "point of service program" under which only doctors could refer patients to a specialist.
Also, under the current plan, the deductible is $1,500 per person for up to three people in a family, and the coinsurance, or costs incurred after the co-pays and deductibles are met, is 100 percent.
Under the HMO, employees would see their deductible drop to $1,000 per person for up to three family members, but the coinsurance is 80 percent and there's a $500 co-pay per hospital admission.
In a scenario suggested by the city's broker, "We would offer the (HMO) as part of (employees) working here, 100 percent being paid for (by the city), but each employee would have the option of buying up to the current plan," Andrew said.
"They'd see no change in their service. What they would see is a change in their paycheck," he added.
Those "buy-up" costs would range from $792 for employee-only coverage to $2,376 for employee-plus-family coverage, Andrew noted in a handout to council members.
"There are literally dozens of other plans that Blue Cross Blue Shield offers, but we looked through quite a number of them a couple of days ago and we felt like to achieve some kind so savings that would be meaningful, this HMO plan probably made the most sense," Andrew said.
City Council members said they would send e-mails to Andrew giving guidance on the matter, which normally is handled as an administrative matter. The city needs to give direction to the broker by March 15, Andrew said.
In other business, the council voted to spend $20,542 to move utility lines as part of a downtown improvement project.
The city hopes to begin work on the improvements in April or May, with the work taking about 60 days to complete, City Planner James Riker said.
The project involves adding new sidewalks, streetlights and landscaping to Railroad Avenue between Snelling Avenue and Main Street. Also, the city is looking to improve Church Street between Main and Pine streets.
The city is using a $250,000 state Transportation Enhancement grant to pay for the work.
As part of that, the city was required to match the grant at $50,000. The city has spent that amount already on engineering costs, Riker said.
Flowery Branch had budgeted $50,000 in this year's budget for the utility line relocation.
The difference of nearly $30,000 could be used to offset water line improvements associated with the project, Andrew said.