City council medical and dental

[mug99]

Wow!! Not one comment of the Penticton city council giving themselves medical and dental plans, most of it being a burden on the citizens of Penticton.

[flamingfingers]

Wow!! Not one comment of the Penticton city council giving themselves medical and dental plans, most of it being a burden on the citizens of Penticton.

The employer usually negotiates a contract with the insurer, say, Great West Life or Blue Cross for the number of employees they have and get a 'group rate' from the insurer. The premiums at the group rate are deducted from the employees' paycheqeues so essentially, the employee pays for the premiums out of their pay packets.

Do you have a link that says these premiums are in ADDITION to the employees' take home pay?

[Bunnyhop]

Sometimes the employee pays the premiums, sometimes the employer pays the premiums. Depends on the deal and how generous the employer is.

[southy]

Yes, our current mayor and council are truly showing us what they are made of. I would think that the issue of medical and dental has been discussed behind closed doors for some time. They were just waiting for a opportune time to announce it. This current mayor and council I suspect will offer us a smorgasbord of interesting issues in the next 30 odd months.

The latest in today's Herald: http://www.pentictonherald.ca/news/arti ... d39ad.html

Does mayor Jak really think we are so naïve as to believe that this was money well spent. Seriously, suggesting that it was important that they thank their most important staff member. Hello?? I would like to think every staff member is just as important as the next. But I guess not. Mayor Jak goes on to say the party was also a goodwill gesture offered in the hope that Antoniak will be a resource for her successor. Just in case the successor cannot find a file or to ask Antoniak who is no longer employed by the city what did you do about this or that? Would be very interesting to see the guest list for this event. Very interesting.

Just wait folks .. more to come.

[twobits]

[quote="flamingfingers"]
The employer usually negotiates a contract with the insurer, say, Great West Life or Blue Cross for the number of employees they have and get a 'group rate' from the insurer. The premiums at the group rate are deducted from the employees' paycheqeues so essentially, the employee pays for the premiums out of their pay packets.

Do you have a link that says these premiums are in ADDITION to the employees' take home pay?

http://www.pentictonwesternnews.com/news/296639701.html

Sorry, the taxpayer is picking up 50%. Estimated cost is about $14,400 split, so taxpayers pick up about $7,200. If you add up all of the salaries of council and Mayor.....it comes to about 148k. This does not include eligible expenses but those are a zero sum wash anyway because it is not remuneration, it is reimbursement.
One would have to do a weighted average to be precise, between the mayor's salary difference and the councillors, but for simplicities sake, this council just voted themselves a 4.9% raise after four months in office.
It gets even more humorous when bartender Max thought 100% coverage by taxpayers was fair for the time required. He wanted to vote himself a 9.8% raise. As did poor, and I stress poor Judy Sentes. According to her it is a well know fact that she only has a 20k per yr T4. That's all well and good Judy when you have a boatload of cash to spend that is not taxable income. I cannot help but think that your share of Sentes Chev Olds did not leave you without the ability to cover your MSP premium. Tarik....who can blame a social activist? Mayor Jak....self described self employed....and the reason being to attract quality candidates?? Who has been paying your MSP premiums to date and could we have had a better Mayor than you had medical coverage been in place prior to the election?
Two oinks for the trough dwellers purporting public service as their motivation.
Thumbs up to Konanz, Martin, and Campbell for chitting where the bears do.

[I am Canadian]

I thought medical & dental were basic benefits. Usually both the employer & employee pays for it. If they can afford to pay their employees 100k+/year they can certainly drop a few more pennies on our backs here and there.

[twobits]

Yes, our current mayor and council are truly showing us what they are made of. I would think that the issue of medical and dental has been discussed behind closed doors for some time. They were just waiting for a opportune time to announce it. This current mayor and council I suspect will offer us a smorgasbord of interesting issues in the next 30 odd months.

The latest in today's Herald: http://www.pentictonherald.ca/news/arti ... d39ad.html

Does mayor Jak really think we are so naïve as to believe that this was money well spent. Seriously, suggesting that it was important that they thank their most important staff member. Hello?? I would like to think every staff member is just as important as the next. But I guess not. Mayor Jak goes on to say the party was also a goodwill gesture offered in the hope that Antoniak will be a resource for her successor. Just in case the successor cannot find a file or to ask Antoniak who is no longer employed by the city what did you do about this or that? Would be very interesting to see the guest list for this event. Very interesting.

Just wait folks .. more to come.

What was it, 24k in moving expenses to get her here? And now 1400 for wine and cheese to say farewell 4 1/2 yrs later.
Southy....who do you think signed off on this expense? I tried to warn you pre election.
Do you think Vas would have signed off?

[southy]

You raise a valid point about Vas Twobits. I don't know how he would have reacted to this. Politics is a funny game. Unfortunately this funny game is beginning to cost us and I suspect will continue to cost us. We had two options Jak and Vas.
Not the easiest decision for voters. Let's see what comes next. Something tells me and I could be 100% wrong but we might just see conflict between the city and PHA once again. And Twobits you know why :) and that's all I have to say about that.

[twobits]

You raise a valid point about Vas Twobits. I don't know how he would have reacted to this. Politics is a funny game. Unfortunately this funny game is beginning to cost us and I suspect will continue to cost us. We had two options Jak and Vas.
Not the easiest decision for voters. Let's see what comes next. Something tells me and I could be 100% wrong but we might just see conflict between the city and PHA once again. And Twobits you know why :) and that's all I have to say about that.

Problem? Think again. Who are two peas in a pod downtown? I can guarantee you the spin will be "in a new spirit of co-operation" and voters will think grownups are finally at the table.
The reality is that Pontes (with his three properties) and Prystay (via his token employee Haynes) virtually hold control over PHA agenda.
It is important to note how Prystay keeps himself non political by having a mannequin stand in his place. Why does he do that? Why is his name not on the board of directors of the PHA? And I pose that question to any thinking person.

[southy]

Twobits - slap me on the side of the head - how did I miss that one. You are absolutely correct ... being somewhat invisible unless there is a positive photo op - he does use his mannequins to play out his directives. Why do I all of a sudden have this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. More of the same - when and where will it end. Thanks Twobits - another movie in the making.

[twobits]

I thought medical & dental were basic benefits. Usually both the employer & employee pays for it. If they can afford to pay their employees 100k+/year they can certainly drop a few more pennies on our backs here and there.

A few more pennies dropped on our backs here and there? Seriously?
You have heard the phrase "nickeled and dimed to death" I would think? So is being "pennied" to death a more acceptable method? That is like putting the proverbial frog in water and slowly turning up the heat cuz he will live much longer than straight out plunging him into hot water.
BTW, we are the frogs. Just in case you missed the analogy.

Why cannot not teck Tarik, nominee for a business award, afford to pay his own medical......why cannot not Picton, awarded young entrepreneur of the year award, afford to pay his own medical, why does Judy Sentes hide behind her T4 rather than her net worth and pay her own medical?

I have no problem with a few pennies on my back for legitimate reasons. I just have a problem with award worthy business people (who should presumably be doing very well for the award or nomination), and high net worth people slipping their hands into my coin pocket when they signed up for the job 4 months ago and knew perfectly well what the pay scale was. I wonder what the vote would be if they were 4 months from the end of their term and the benefits would only extend to the newly elected council?

[fluffy]

I think I'm going to send them a letter saying I've voted myself a property tax reduction. (it was unanimous)

[Ken7]

The employer usually negotiates a contract with the insurer, say, Great West Life or Blue Cross for the number of employees they have and get a 'group rate' from the insurer. The premiums at the group rate are deducted from the employees' paycheqeues so essentially, the employee pays for the premiums out of their pay packets.

Do you have a link that says these premiums are in ADDITION to the employees' take home pay?

Not sure what Union you have worked for. Our's made that as a perk and it was paid for by the Employer 100%. That is usually in lieu of a pay raise or considered as a raise. As time goes by the costs usually increase due to the incident of use.

In order to scrutinize this you would have to see the contract they have or minutes from that meeting regarding this issue.