City Council gives itself dental, vision benefits
July 15, 2008
By Emily Keller
The Sammamish City Council voted unanimously to offer themselves vision and dental coverage at their July 1 meeting.
The coverage could begin in August or September if enough council members elect to purchase it, said Director of Finance Lyman Howard.
Council members will have the option of buying dental coverage from the Washington Dental Service at a cost of $57 per month as an individual, or $198.90 per month for an individual and two dependents. The vision plan costs $17.82 per month and covers the whole family.
Six out of seven council members must purchase dental coverage and all seven members must buy into the vision plan for either one to take effect.
The coverage would cost about $7,750 to $10,700 per year, depending on how many members enroll, Howard said.
Currently there are not enough council members who have expressed interest in the plans but that could change in the next few weeks as they make their decisions, Howard said.
The council would need to choose the plans 20-30 days before the start of the next month for the coverage to take effect, he said.
Councilwoman Nancy Whitten and Howard said the coverage will invite a wider range of council candidates, including younger people with lower incomes.
“It would not make that much difference to me personally but I think as a policy choice it’s a good thing to do to open the door to more candidates who might be interested in running for council,” Whitten said.
Councilman Mark Cross also spoke in support of the coverage.
“Part of being a good steward is to look forward at everything we do and I think having this kind of coverage for council is looking forward,” he said.
Howard said the council is bringing up the issue now because the 2007 revised code of Washington no longer considers benefits to be compensation, which means the council can give themselves benefits without violating the prohibition on raising salaries while in office. Council members make $850 per month for their work, and the mayor makes $950.
Howard also said that council members deserve the benefits for their hard work.
“Generally they spend a lot of time and effort. It’s supposed to be a part-time job but in many cases it turns into something more,” he said.
City officials are not suggesting that the council get medical benefits because that would be far more expensive, Howard said.
According to data that the city of Kenmore collected from 89 Washington cities, nearly 50 percent offer some type of health care benefits to their mayor or council members.
Kenmore’s research, which included information from the Association of Washington Cities, the Municipal Research Services Center and email correspondence to 84 cities including Sammamish, there were 44 out of 89 cities that offered coverage. Sammamish pushes that number to 45.
Of those, 33 cities offer participation in the city’s health care plan, four offer health care coverage for the mayor only, four provide a monetary contribution toward health care and three offer a health care plan but do not pay the premium cost.
Reporter Emily Keller can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242, or ekeller@isspress.com.
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