The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will vote on a staff proposal to reduce medical and dental benefits for 14,000 current and future retirees, the Sacramento Bee reports.
The new plan would affect current county employees and those who retired after June 29, 2003. Employees who retired before the cut-off date would continue to receive subsidies.
County officials attributed the new proposal to the increasing cost of benefits and a new federal accounting rule that requires the county to disclose future liabilities for retiree benefits.
Under the plan, the program's annual cost for 2008 would decrease from an estimated $15.1 million to $9.1 million. The annual cost by 2016 would decrease to $6.9 million, according to the Bee.
County officials said current and future employees have access to a recently approved retiree health savings program. The county deposits $25 per pay period into a health savings investment program, to which county retirees would have access (Fletcher, Sacramento Bee, 1/25).