OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Finance Committee Meeting Minutes, November 25, 2025

Meeting Portal — Tuesday, November 25, 2025
BodyJackson, Mississippi
SessionMeeting Portal
DateTuesday, November 25, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 25:21

Transcript — Verbatim
0:02

Good afternoon.

0:05

Thank you.

0:05

The Finance Committee meeting will now start.

0:10

First order of business is going to be talking about the two items that we will be voting on in the special meeting.

0:19

Are there any questions about the two items?

0:27

Okay.

0:28

Order authorizing the mayor to execute a renewable agreement agreement with dental dental concerning the provisions of a fully funded.

0:40

Insurance.

0:43

What's it called?

0:44

Insurance plan for active municipal employees and retirees for the period January 1, 2026 through December 31st, 2026.

0:53

So moved.

1:02

Well, you voted out of it.

1:04

So no, I think that I think you're procedurally correct to do that to vote it out of committee.

1:09

Okay.

1:11

All in favor?

1:13

Taking it out of committee.

1:17

Oh, I asked.

1:18

Okay, discussion.

1:20

I asked.

1:23

Did you have any discussion?

1:27

Well, I'll just say I'm really glad that we're going to get a new commission, and hopefully, we'll have uh processes in place so that next year we'll have uh a lot more information very early on, and I think that will be beneficial.

1:41

Yes, sir.

1:42

Uh Madam Chair, may I add some information?

1:47

First of all, uh our insurance benefits citywide, particularly the health insurance, is um a significant weight on your general fund.

1:57

So our general fund revenues verified are about 105 million.

2:02

Our health insurance, and I know we're not talking about health today, but this needs to be discussed for the context of the dental uh and the life that you're considering.

2:11

The health insurance is costing us slightly more than 15 million dollars a year off the general fund.

2:17

That's a really large number.

2:19

It comes out to about six thousand dollars per employee for health coverage, and for anyone who takes the plus one or family, the city pays about $18,000 for those of us who take the plus one.

2:36

So you put those two numbers together, and I know we haven't given raises to employees this year, but a good number of employees are being subsidized to the tune of $24,000 a year by the city of Jackson.

2:50

Now I know some people would rather have that as pay than insurance, but it's important in a greater uh discussion that our employees understand that they get a lot more than their salary with the health insurance and packages we have.

3:05

Having said that, there's a real question as to whether we provide the best benefits we can for our employees and whether the current programs are sustainable.

3:16

Certainly, I don't think any of us want to see us spending 20 million dollars a year uh for coverage.

3:22

When I came back to the city, I asked early of uh Deborah Whitehead, who's here, somebody I had worked with previously.

3:29

What was the status of the insurance advisory committee?

3:33

I was told that that committee had been disbanded.

3:36

That was one of these committees, and I say this historically, not to um beat a dead horse, but there are certain things that occurred regardless of whether you had Danks, Ditto, Melton, or Johnson as mayor.

3:49

And those are the four administrations I'm largely familiar with.

3:52

The insurance advisory committee was one of those, and so that committee would come uh together, evaluate things and make recommendations to the city council and the administration.

4:02

Uh I went back to Mayor Horn, asked him to re-implement that committee.

4:06

He has re-implemented that, and we will be working um to secure the new agent of record uh in 2026 to re-evaluate our health insurance because our contract is up at the end of 2026 on health insurance, and we will also take another look at dental and life insurance.

4:23

Now, circling back to where we are now on the dental insurance.

4:26

Um, Deborah Whitehead negotiated directly on behalf of the city.

4:30

There is about a $2 per pay period increase for the dental coverage.

4:37

Uh, there was an alternative dental coverage that would not have been an increase to the employee, but at the same time would have um cut the network dramatically by over half.

4:48

And so uh our collective wisdom, uh, Ms.

4:52

Whitehead, myself, HR collectively thought it was better to continue offering the same plan where uh people who are using this delta dental insurance and already have relationship with the dentist will know that that insurance will continue to cover.

5:07

I won't say that'll be the recommendation next year, but that's the recommendation for this year.

5:12

Expect from this insurance advisory committee before our next budget, a series of recommendations on health, life, and dental for all of you to consider as we go through the budget next year.

5:25

And our goal internally is to have those recommendations to you mid-year, not on the budget deadline.

5:30

We've got to do better than we did this past year.

5:33

We also won't have a uh transition of governing authorities next year, which will help us uh for anybody who's been through the transition of governing authorities before Councilman Grizzell, Mr.

5:44

President Grizzell, Vice President Hartley, I know you have those years tend to be disruptive.

5:49

You have new authorities coming in July 1, and then you have essentially 75 days to pass a budget.

5:55

And so there's a lot of decisions crunched into a small time when you're otherwise transitioning the government.

6:01

That makes it a difficult year.

6:03

Um so our recommendation um we asked uh I asked Ms.

6:07

Whitehead to shop for dental coverage uh and see what she could come back with as opposed to trying to engage an agent of record on a short notice.

6:15

And this is the proposal that the administration, uh the mayor uh has authorized us to present and that we're presenting, and that's kind of our reasoning for why we've done this and what we intend to do next year.

6:26

So you won't be sitting here on a deadline next year wondering why you're on a deadline of just hearing about something.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Fiscal Sustainability█████████████████████████████████████████████52%
Personnel Matters██████████████████████████████████████████48%
Summary of Proceedings

Finance Committee Meeting Minutes, November 25, 2025

The Finance Committee convened to deliberate and vote on two insurance renewal orders for municipal employees (Dental and Life/AD&D) for the 2026 fiscal year. The meeting featured extensive discussion regarding the sustainability of employee benefits, the significant financial weight of insurance on the general fund, and the re-establishment of an Insurance Advisory Committee to oversee future negotiations. While the administration defended the renewals as necessary to maintain network access and provide stability during a transition period, several council members expressed reservations about cost increases and insufficient engagement, with one member expressing a lack of trust in the deal despite acknowledging the complexity of the insurance market.

Consent Calendar

  • Order Authorizing Mayor to Execute Renewal with Delta Dental:
    • Unanimously voted to take out of committee and forward to the full council for a vote in a special meeting.
    • The order covers dental insurance for active employees and retirees for the period January 1, 2026, through December 31, 2026.
  • Order Authorizing Mayor to Renew Contract with Medlife:
    • Unanimously voted to take out of committee and forward to the full council for a vote in a special meeting.
    • The order covers life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance (10/20 policy) for active and retired employees for the period January 1, 2026, through December 31, 2026.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Internal Discussion on Benefit Philosophy:
    • Council Member: Expressed the position that for employees earning approximately $9.87 per hour, a $2 pay period increase represents a significant portion of food costs, though ultimately argued against trading benefits for salary increases because benefits provide protection during illness.
    • Council Member: Stated a position that the city should not be pitting salary against benefits and emphasized the need to find savings elsewhere (e.g., consultants) rather than reducing employee coverage.
    • Council Member: Expressed a historical preference for allowing employees to choose their own personal insurance options if it resulted in higher direct pay, though acknowledged the complexity of the current economic landscape.
    • Council Member (Chair): Expressed 100% support for the principle of maintaining benefits but noted that the administration does not control market rates, emphasizing that the group must work through the challenges together.
    • Council Member: Expressed a lack of trust in the final dental deal, stating, "I still don't think that we got the best deal," despite acknowledging the negotiation efforts of Ms. Whitehead.

Discussion Items

  • Dental Insurance Renewal (Delta Dental):
    • Administration Position: Ms. Whitehead and the Finance Committee explained that direct quotes were requested from Delta Dental without a commission to secure $0 commission rates. They argued that while there is a $2 per pay period increase, an alternative plan with no employee increase would have cut the provider network by over 50%. The committee posited that maintaining the current network was the better option for existing dentist-patient relationships.
    • Insurance Advisory Committee: Vice President Hartley and others discussed the re-implementation of the disbanded Insurance Advisory Committee. The administration confirmed a meeting is being rescheduled for the following week. Council Member Clay successfully advocated for the inclusion of a non-administrative person (specifically suggesting the Clerk of Council) on the committee, a suggestion Vice President Hartley agreed to recommend to the Mayor.
  • Financial Context and General Fund Impact:
    • Vice President Hartley: Stated that health insurance costs the general fund over $15 million annually (approx. $6,000 per employee), with family plans costing the city roughly $18,000 per enrollment. He noted that with the current flat salary structure, the city subsidizes employees by approximately $24,000 annually.
    • Council Member: Highlighted that the "plus one" health coverage option costs the city approximately $6 million annually, involving about 550 employees.
    • Vice President Hartley: Distinguished between project descriptions (the costs) and positions, noting the goal is to have the Advisory Committee present recommendations mid-year rather than under budget deadline pressure, avoiding the disruptions seen during previous year-end transitions.
  • Life/AD&D Insurance Renewal (Medlife):
    • Ms. Taberson: Clarified the policy details, correcting an initial misstatement to confirm it is a 10/20 policy ($10,000 basic, $20,000 accidental). She described the benefit as effectively having become "burial insurance" due to the 20-year tenure of the policy at that cap.
    • Administration Position: Ms. Taberson and the committee recommended continuing the benefit but noted a recommendation to explore bundling options with dental or health in the future. They noted that the fallout from 2020-2022 COVID claims has impacted rates.

Key Outcomes

  • Re-establishment of Insurance Advisory Committee:
    • The committee plans to meet twice monthly for the next several months. The composition will include the City Attorney, Vice President Hartley, Ms. Whitehead, HR, Finance, and potentially a non-administrative member (Clerk of Council) upon confirmation of separation of powers implications.
    • Vice President Hartley pledged to provide a quarterly report to the council no later than the end of Q1 2026.
  • Recommendations for Future Budgeting:
    • The administration intends to have a full series of recommendations regarding Health, Life, and Dental insurance from the Advisory Committee by mid-year 2026, prior to the budget deadline.
    • The Council is directed to engage in a dialogue before voting on future insurance contracts.
  • Procedural Vote:
    • Both the Dental and Life insurance orders were approved to be moved out of the Finance Committee and scheduled for a vote at the upcoming special meeting.
  • Administrative Directives:
    • The Mayor is expected to appoint a non-administration representative to the Insurance Advisory Committee.
    • The search for a new agent of record in 2026 will include a re-evaluation of health, life, and dental insurance contracts.

Meeting Transcript

Good afternoon. Thank you. The Finance Committee meeting will now start. First order of business is going to be talking about the two items that we will be voting on in the special meeting. Are there any questions about the two items? Okay. Order authorizing the mayor to execute a renewable agreement agreement with dental dental concerning the provisions of a fully funded. Insurance. What's it called? Insurance plan for active municipal employees and retirees for the period January 1, 2026 through December 31st, 2026. So moved. Well, you voted out of it. So no, I think that I think you're procedurally correct to do that to vote it out of committee. Okay. All in favor? Taking it out of committee. Oh, I asked. Okay, discussion. I asked. Did you have any discussion? Well, I'll just say I'm really glad that we're going to get a new commission, and hopefully, we'll have uh processes in place so that next year we'll have uh a lot more information very early on, and I think that will be beneficial. Yes, sir. Uh Madam Chair, may I add some information? First of all, uh our insurance benefits citywide, particularly the health insurance, is um a significant weight on your general fund. So our general fund revenues verified are about 105 million. Our health insurance, and I know we're not talking about health today, but this needs to be discussed for the context of the dental uh and the life that you're considering. The health insurance is costing us slightly more than 15 million dollars a year off the general fund. That's a really large number. It comes out to about six thousand dollars per employee for health coverage, and for anyone who takes the plus one or family, the city pays about $18,000 for those of us who take the plus one. So you put those two numbers together, and I know we haven't given raises to employees this year, but a good number of employees are being subsidized to the tune of $24,000 a year by the city of Jackson. Now I know some people would rather have that as pay than insurance, but it's important in a greater uh discussion that our employees understand that they get a lot more than their salary with the health insurance and packages we have. Having said that, there's a real question as to whether we provide the best benefits we can for our employees and whether the current programs are sustainable. Certainly, I don't think any of us want to see us spending 20 million dollars a year uh for coverage. When I came back to the city, I asked early of uh Deborah Whitehead, who's here, somebody I had worked with previously. What was the status of the insurance advisory committee? I was told that that committee had been disbanded. That was one of these committees, and I say this historically, not to um beat a dead horse, but there are certain things that occurred regardless of whether you had Danks, Ditto, Melton, or Johnson as mayor. And those are the four administrations I'm largely familiar with. The insurance advisory committee was one of those, and so that committee would come uh together, evaluate things and make recommendations to the city council and the administration. Uh I went back to Mayor Horn, asked him to re-implement that committee. He has re-implemented that, and we will be working um to secure the new agent of record uh in 2026 to re-evaluate our health insurance because our contract is up at the end of 2026 on health insurance, and we will also take another look at dental and life insurance. Now, circling back to where we are now on the dental insurance. Um, Deborah Whitehead negotiated directly on behalf of the city. There is about a $2 per pay period increase for the dental coverage. Uh, there was an alternative dental coverage that would not have been an increase to the employee, but at the same time would have um cut the network dramatically by over half. And so uh our collective wisdom, uh, Ms. Whitehead, myself, HR collectively thought it was better to continue offering the same plan where uh people who are using this delta dental insurance and already have relationship with the dentist will know that that insurance will continue to cover. I won't say that'll be the recommendation next year, but that's the recommendation for this year. Expect from this insurance advisory committee before our next budget, a series of recommendations on health, life, and dental for all of you to consider as we go through the budget next year. And our goal internally is to have those recommendations to you mid-year, not on the budget deadline.

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