Financial adviser urges City Council to examine employee benefit costs

Comments come as council considers increasing proposed employee COLA from 1% to 2.8%

Highlights ‘elephant in the room’ employee benefits package

Employees receive Visa card that could eliminate all out-of-pocket, including 100% of deductibles

MANDEVILLE — As the Mandeville City Council considers increasing employee raises in the proposed FY2027 budget, a local financial adviser who had already raised concerns directly with council members urged them Wednesday to look beyond salaries and examine what he described as the compounding cost of the city’s employee benefits package.

Vince Talazac made the comments during the fourth of five City Council budget hearings, telling council members he had emailed them earlier that day as a follow-up to concerns raised at a previous meeting.

His comments came as members prepared amendments expected to be considered during Thursday’s final hearing. Among them, District III Councilwoman Jill Lane said she plans to propose increasing the 1% employee cost-of-living adjustment included in Mayor Clay Madden’s proposed budget to 2.8%.

Talazac, who began by praising the council and administration for what he called a “phenomenal job” over the past six years, described employee pay and benefits as the “elephant in the room” and questioned whether the city’s current approach is sustainable.

“So any time we grant a COLA increase, it’s a compounding effect,” Talazac said.

Talazac said every additional dollar in employee pay costs the city approximately another 42 cents through retirement contributions and Social Security where applicable. He also questioned whether the council had sufficiently examined the cost of employee health benefits.

Mandeville’s health insurance plan carries annual deductibles of $7,050 for individual coverage and $14,100 for family coverage, but city employees generally do not have to pay those amounts themselves for eligible in-network care. The city provides employees a “Nonstop Health Visa card” that uses taxpayer money to pay eligible medical expenses and prescriptions.

The Visa card benefit provides up to $8,500 for individual coverage and $17,000 for employee-plus-dependent coverage, enough to cover not only the plan’s deductible but its entire annual out-of-pocket maximum for eligible in-network care.

In practical terms, the taxpayer-funded Visa card could mean an employee pays nothing out-of-pocket except their portion of the premium — $71.35 per month for individual coverage or $203.42 for families — as long as their expenses are covered and in-network.

For employee-only medical coverage, the city pays $1,026.34 of the $1,097.69 monthly premium, while the employee pays $71.35. For family coverage, the city pays $2,926.06 per month while the employee pays $203.42, according to the city’s 2026 benefits guide. That translates to 93.5% of health premiums being funded by the taxpayers.

Talazac also focused on retirement costs. He said Mandeville not only makes its required employer retirement contribution but also pays the contribution that otherwise would be deducted from employee paychecks.

He contrasted Mandeville’s benefits with those offered by neighboring municipalities and argued that the council should consider total compensation rather than evaluating salaries alone.

Talazac said total employee pay and benefits are approaching $18 million, which he calculated at roughly $145,000 in average total compensation across the city’s 125 budgeted positions.

“This is one of, I think, the hardest things I think we have to face,” Talazac said. “It’s unpopular. It’s not gonna be pretty. I don’t know what the answers are.”

Talazac urged the council to undertake a broader examination of employee compensation and benefits rather than continuing to address the issue incrementally.

For additional context, just eight of Mandeville’s 121 city employees live within the city limits, according to figures cited during an earlier budget hearing.

The council’s fifth and final FY2027 budget hearing is scheduled for 4 p.m. Thursday, immediately before its regular 6 p.m. meeting where the FY2027 is expected to be voted on.

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