Hundreds of angry retirees pack City Council meeting over benefits changes

July 18--Nearly 300 Montgomery city retirees packed the City Council auditorium Tuesday after changes to their insurance benefits sparked serious concerns among former workers and council members.

That protest led the council to unanimously recommend that Mayor Todd Strange overturn the changes, which he did to thunderous applause after previously having been booed off the podium. City officials maintained the plan would have saved money for the city and retirees, and said the anger resulted from a botched rollout and a fundamental misunderstanding by the retirees of the policy changes.

The city wanted to shift its coverage for retirees 65 years of age and older from a Blue Cross Blue Shield plan to a program through Via Benefits, which would have started Sept. 1. But the sudden change, with some council members saying they were never informed until retirees called them, brought the hundreds of worried retirees downtown to protest the changes in front of the full council.

Comments from retirees, council members and city officials failed to bridge the gap between the two sides, and the complicated nature of health-care coverage likely caused additional confusion.

It was a charged environment, with boos and applause breaking out from the concerned crowd. At one point, the crowd broke out in chants of "reverse it" when one council member opined about what to do next. The council eventually turned on the mayor's changes, though many of them were skeptical from the outset, and wrote a resolution during an impromptu 30-minute recess asking the mayor to overturn the changes.

That meeting may have broken open meeting law. Six council members, the mayor and at least one cabinet member went back to a secure room in the council building. When the Montgomery Advertiser asked to be admitted, a city official wouldn't allow it or said they didn't know how the rule pertained to the situation.

At one point, Strange attempted to speak to the audience directly, but he was chased from the podium by jeers.

"I have told you that I am not running next year," he said, after which the crowd began to cheer loudly. "That hurts. To be called a crook, that hurts my feelings. I have given my life for the city. I have gone to bat for your guys ... I can not make the retirement board give you more money."

He continued to try to speak, telling the crowd that the current overall health care plan costs $36 million and increases each year. Barry Crabb, city finance director, said the changes that were overturned would have saved the city about $300,000 that will have to be addressed in the upcoming budget, which several officials have already said has little money to spare.

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The crowd continued to interrupt Strange and he grew frustrated, asking at one point if he should resign. The applause thundered.

Crabb tried to show some of the cost savings to the crowd, but again was met with a chorus of boos.

"This is a company that has done this thing in cities, states across the country," he said. "Going to an individual marketplace is considered best practice across the country."

He tried to tell the crowd that their plans could not be canceled and be left without insurance, counter to a concern raised by one of the speakers.

Strange said at the end of the council meeting that the plan was good, but the city's inability to show that to retirees meant that they had to overturn it. Talking to reporters, the mayor got emotional when discussing the vitriol directed at him during the meeting.

Several council members said they hadn't received any information before it was sent out to retirees, though Strange was adamant that they had been contacted beforehand. "I will acknowledge that we didn't do a good job on the front end," the mayor said in work session, adding that he had only heard about the changes a few days before changes were approved.

More: Some Montgomery retirees to see shift in their health insurance plan

Councilman Arch Lee (District 7) cut in and said during work session that "... maybe we shouldn't make the decision," as a part of a testy exchange between members during a work session that is normally docile.

Strange said again, similar to earlier this month, that the benefits will be the same or better than they originally were, a constant that he and some others have maintained since the issue arose at the previous council meeting. Officials have said that the new plans will decrease potentially sharp increases in monthly costs by adding the retirees to a national pool.

Right now, the former city workers are in a pool of only about 1,000 people and have their health insurance costs deducted from their pension payment, Montgomery Finance Director Barry Crabb said previously. There is only one plan available, the Blue Cross option, and there is always a change that retirees could see an increase if there are one or more "catastrophic" claims that occur.

Retirees won't have anything deducted from their pensions and instead will receive a deposit into an account, $2,800 for single retirees and $4,800 for married couples, to pay for their medical costs. Several retirees and council members expressed skepticism about the system, especially about supposed reimbursements that would be required for out-of-pocket medical costs.

Lee said that they had heard from the city that the coverage will be better, but the council had overwhelmingly been hit with responses saying that wasn't the case.

Councilman Bollinger (District 1) said some of his constituents felt pressured to sign up for benefits that they were unsure about because they were afraid that they would lose their coverage.

"I think the council should have been notified a lot earlier than that so we could've been involved in some of the decision making," he said.

Councilman Glen Pruitt (District 8) was the member who called for the 30-minute break that eventually led to the change.

"If this is a good plan, there is no reason that we can't kick the can down the road for a year," he said.

Councilman William Green (District 5) blamed Strange and the finance department at one point in the full council meeting, directly telling them that the council had nothing to do with the changes. It was clear then that many councilors were shifting against the mayor and would refuse to leave until a change was made.

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There are several Via Benefits experts who were supposed to come and conduct meetings and help people choose the best option for them on Wednesday, Crabb said. Those experts will now help the city figure out how to reverse the 200 or so people that had already signed up for the new benefits.

Councilman Charles Jinright (District 9) said the city was trying to do what was best for the retirees when they made the changes. His statement was immediately met with boos from the audience full of retirees.

Every speaker to take the podium to talk to the council received a standing and loud whistles after they finished their speeches.

"No other insurance plan is being changed, so we feel that it is age discrimination," said Carolyn Mozingo, a city retiree. She said that no one was asked for input on the subject, and they were blindsided by the changes.

"I would submit to you that it is a lose-lose situation," Leslie Snodgrass, a retired firefighter, said before the changes occured. "We are going to lose money, we are going to lose coverage ... We want security and stability and we will lose both of those in this."

The tenor of the crowd changed quickly after the mayor overturned the plan, and many audience members cheered him as he spoke.

"The last thing that we wanted to do was hurt you guys and I apologize," he said.

Councilman Fred Bell (District 3), who is regular critic of Strange's, admonished the crowd at the end of the meeting for their harsh treatment of city workers and the mayor, which drew applause from some of the audience.

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