Page 25 - Hurst FY20 Approved Budget

third party administrator (CIGNA) that manages the program. Costs have outpaced they
city’s health care budget over the past several years due to increasing medical costs and
increasing claims activity and the city has been able to manage increases through cost
containment strategies, wellness efforts, and operating budget adjustments. Recently
the city made a substantial change by introducing and incentivizing a healthcare plan
providing coverage for only in-network providers. In 2019-2020 we moved all plans to
in-network only providers, eliminated our most expensive plan, adjusted employee
premiums, and implemented a modest spousal surcharge which only affected those
employees with a spouse eligible for benefits through their employer. Staff utilizes
consulting services to review its plan and participant charges each year. The city
continues to use CIGNA given their competitive fixed fee structure and their offering of
greater medical discounts within its network of physicians and other services. It is also
important to note that the city adjusted our “stop-loss” coverage that transfers claims
costs to CIGNA. Specific stop-loss coverage is carried at $150,000 with aggregate stop-loss
carried at $6.12 million and the city carries a $1.5 million emergency reserve in the Loss
Reserve Fund. We maintain the emergency reserve and aggregate stop-loss coverage
in the event actual claims exceed the expected claims of $5.1 million for FY 2019-2020.

Retirements: City of Hurst staff are loyal to the organization, and often enjoy long-term
careers with the city. This means a substantial portion of the city’s employees are eligible
for retirement. Financial exposure associated with retirements includes the payment of
accrued but unused sick and vacation benefits, hiring and training costs, and associated
reorganizations. The city caps the amount of sick and vacation time that is eligible for
payment to retirees. To ensure operations continue smoothly in the face of increasing
retirements, the city has successfully utilized leadership development programs and
the “right fit” new hire process that matches candidates with the organization’s Code
of Ideals. The city has successfully filled several management-level positions with
both internal and external candidates using this process. The city has earmarked
reserves in its Special Projects Fund to fund expenditures associated with retirements.

Public Safety Wages: The City of Hurst provides excellent public safety services
to its citizens and is widely recognized for its quality of service and care. The city
is able to attract and keep great team members in these departments due in
part to leading the local municipal market in starting salaries for Police Officers
and Firefighters/Paramedics. The compensation model is unique to Hurst and
is the largest portion of the workforce and personnel expenses. The city is
strongly committed to hiring and retaining excellent police and fire personnel.

Police departments nationwide are facing increasingly more difficult work environment.
Hurst prides itself on supporting its nationally accredited law enforcement agency that
provides exceptional 24-hour response to the needs of the community. The department
must adhere to several principals and internal policies to receive its accreditation,
and there are many agencies in Hurst’s region that do not earn similar accreditation.
Additionally, the city of Hurst requires a minimum of 60 collegiate hours for entry-
level officers; all officers must also complete an accredited Police Officer academy.
Numerous hours of ongoing training are completed by all officers. The city’s Police
Chief and Assistant Chief deploy programs to support courteous community policing,
while being prepared with equipment and through training for the most difficult of
circumstances. The city of Hurst will continue to provide the resources necessary to assist
our police officers in providing a service that has become increasingly more difficult.

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